Venom: Resurgence
by Anonymaton
Summary: Remake of New Dawn: Some 250 years after the world is conquered by the symbiote race, One legend returns, while a new legend begins. Look out symbiotes, Venom is back. And he's back with a vengeance
1. Prologue

**Welcome everyone! So, this is a rewrite of my original Spider-Man/Venom/Not really either, but it was sort of story. It's a story I hold rather dear to my heart and while I did like the finished product, the year or so that has transpired since I finished it has led to some thoughts that would improve the story greatly!**

 **Which is why I have commenced the immediate, from scratch rewrite of New Dawn under a new name.**

 **Venom: Resurgence.**

 **When I originally wrote New Dawn, I had set out with a basic idea of: what if symbiotes and nothing else in post-apocalyptic world?**

 **Now though, I have something to tell in this story. An over-arcing theme, if you will. No, I won't be telling you what it is in this story. I will also say that when I get around to completing the master plan, this will be taking New Dawn's place in it. Also, I will not be deleting New Dawn from because I worked on that too long and hard to erase it.**

 **Plus, it'll be interesting to see how I've changed as a writer since I began to work seriously on stories four years ago.**

 **A couple of format things I'm changing this time (Or at least attempting to)**

 **1) Trying to follow through on vaguely alluded to plot-points instead of losing them in the fog of creative madness.**

 **2) Cutting back on vaguely alluded to plot-points to reinforce the actual plot instead of spinning a web with no center.**

 **3) This is more of an addition to the opening bit: We'll be putting more effort into responding properly to reviews! It's a small change, but a good one, methinks, and one worth mentioning.**

 **Creativity: Alright, we get it! Now, shall we begin?**

 **Author: I believe we shall.**

 **True believers, I am proud to present Venom: Resurgence to you all. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.**

* * *

To understand how this all began, we must turn to how it ended. How the age of Superheroes ended, to be specific. In my world, there are no heroes. Not anymore. They all died out when the Invasion began in earnest. It all began with a meteorite, impacting the earth in Nevada. Scientists collected it for research and transported it to San Francisco, soon finding that it was perhaps more than it first appeared.

 _Aide 1: "Sir, the scans indicate that the meteorite is hollow!"_

 _Scientist: "Hollow? How is that possible?! It should have shattered upon impact if it was hollow!"_

 _Aide 2: "Sir, it appears there is something inside. Initial scans suggest a liquid, composed of no element found on the Periodic Table!"_

 _Scientist: "Get a probe in here! We must extract it immediately!"_

 _The meteorite is placed in a large, transparent box with a large, boxy machine mounted on top. A drill bit descends into the box and begins to spin before touching the meteorite, sending dust and debris flying as it slowly carves its way through the meteorite's shell. Eventually, the drill bit breaks through into the hollow space within the meteorite. Inside, a liquid rippled and bubbled before a strand extended to touch the drill bit. Feeling no danger, the liquid stretches and bundles, pulling itself along the drill-bit until it emerges into the transparent box. The scientists watch in awe as the ebony slime begins to ooze throughout the box aimlessly, assuming they have discovered a new super-fluid. How wrong they are. The slime begins searching for a weakness, a breach. It can sense air movement and knows that freedom is within reach. It only needs to find it. Suddenly, it feels air rushing and it is sucked into a tube. It can see an indigenous creature just outside its prison, holding it in fascination and celebration. It believes that they are contained. However, this prison is far weaker than that box. The tube begins to shake before rupturing, the slime erupting from within and ferociously grappling onto its would-be captor, engulfing it. Bonding with it. The scientists flee the room as the helpless aid is cocooned in the slime, her screams falling dead silent. The slime begins to tighten before taking the appearance of a woman in a catsuit. Two large, chaotic blotches were in the place of eyes, a wide maw of inch-long, razor sharp teeth, and a tongue that could extend to a foot long. It swayed in place before throwing back its head and letting out a guttural wail of insanity. Then it falls to all fours, searching for an escape route. It spies a vent and its maw contorts into a gross approximation of a smile. It skitters up the wall, removes the grate barring its way and makes its way into the air ducts._

 _From there, almost no one escapes. They are systematically hunted down and captured, dragged into the shadows by an unseen assailant. The few that do escape send for the authorities, but those who enter are never to be seen again either._

 _Soon enough, this event garners the attention of two sworn enemies. Spider man and Venom. Along with the government, both begin investigating the event, only for the Venom symbiote to realize what is happening and panic. It is revealed that all who were captured have now been taken over by new symbiotes, spawned by the one that arrived via meteorite; A queen who seeks to build a hive._

 _Soon, the military becomes involved, but they are caught by surprise when the symbiotes emerge to attack them from the shadows, carrying host-less symbiotes with them to add to their number as they tear through the army, destroying vehicles and weaponry, disabling their weaknesses of fire and sound, and forcing Spider man and Venom to retreat, less they be overwhelmed._

 _Seemingly overnight, the three-story building that had housed the lab is converted inwardly and outwardly into a symbiote hive, where thousands more spawn. The surrounding area is evacuated and quarantined, but the symbiotes grow bold, taking to the buildings around them to hunt down more hosts and expand their ranks. In addition to this, they evolve with exposure to various new forms of weapons employed against them, such as chemical or biological warfare. These new strains develop new abilities, such as enhanced manipulation of their own bodies, corrosive acid, and many others. They continue down into the sewers, taking hundreds, then thousands as the days stretch into weeks, systematically tearing San Francisco to pieces. The nest has now reached the height of a skyscraper, using nearby skyscrapers as a frame to accelerate the building process._

 _Many who escape the city are in fact sleeper agents, with symbiotes having bonded to them and simply biding their time before they can strike around the world. All the while, Venom, Spider man and many other heroes and villains are trying to combat this hostile takeover, but to no avail. Eventually, it is decided to construct a safe-haven. A fortress that can shelter humanity while they prepare to retaliate against the invaders. Through their combined technologies, the governments of the world construct a city in Nevada that could comfortably house eighty million people, is completely self-sustaining and contains specialized defences against symbiotes, including a sonic projector powered by an Arc Reactor. The governments of earth attempt to get as many people within the walls of the city as they can. They only get fifty million people inside. The heroes and villains of earth fight desperately to save their planet. They all perished, one after another. The last to fall are Spider man and Venom, who made a last stand in New York, where they fall in battle. Some remember Venom as having become a true hero that day. Many others consider him responsible for the calamity that befell them._

 _In the end, there are only two free nations left. They are Safe Haven, and Wakanda, who's own shield was modified to emit specialized vibrations that are incredibly painful to symbiotes, but not lethal._

 _Two hundred and fifteen years pass and those who were left trapped outside of Wakanda and Safe Haven have diverged into those who survived and those who fell, becoming little more than rabid beasts. This, is where my story begins. It begins in a world of body snatchers, beasts in human skin, mistrust, desperation and terror. There are no safe places out here. No where to hide, but everywhere to run. And running is how it all started._

* * *

 **So, yeah. I changed it a bit to somewhat resemble the MCU, but it isn't. It's just to explain some of the tech, to include Wakanda (Because Wakanda would definitely survive a symbiote apocalypse) and because it gives a little more weight to it. The Heroes of the world couldn't win against the invaders, with Spider man laying down his life so that others could escape. Same with Venom.**

 **Creativity: I think this time, we're going about it a bit smarter.**

 **Author: Yeah. However, I am not going to try to overstuff it this time. I do feel that's something I did last time; Trying to reach that 100k goal. I doubt I'll get that far this time and I'm perfectly fine with that. I already got 2 100k stories under my belt, one of which isn't quite done yet, so I don't want to overdo it just to try and reach some quantifiable goal. Quality over quantity.**

 **Well, I'll be posting the first five chapters at the same time as this opener, so don't miss it! Right now, this'll just be updated at my leisure, but it will be in sets of five. Just to shake things up.**

 **Well, I think that about covers everything! Please remember to share your thoughts in the review section, I'll see you all soon!**


	2. The Beginning

**Good day to you all!**

 **So, I've been thinking since I wrote the prologue for Venom: Resurgence and I decided that instead of just throwing five chapters up at once whenever I want to, I'll update in waves of five over the course of five days. So, this will be up the same day as the prologue, but it's technically day one for the story.**

 **I considered doing it in waves of seven, and just uploading over a week, but I realized that I didn't like the number seven for some reason. Pause and consider my rationale for not updating over the course of one week. I don't like the number seven.**

 **Creativity: Yeah, that is a bit strange.**

 **Author: Tell me about it.**

 **So, I'm writing this opening bit just after I finished outlining the final set of chapters for A Very Bad Idea (My Godzilla story and my longest story to date) so this is could be considered my 'unwinding' story; The one I write when my brain is tired of thinking about my Godzilla story. Also, please don't get mad at me for working on other stuff when A Very Bad Idea isn't finished yet. Like I said, it's a bit of a brain drain, and I find working on something else for a few minutes is a good brain decompressor. Maybe consider it a tip if you are considering getting into story writing on this site? Probably not. I'm a weird person.**

 **Creativity: That goes without saying.**

 **Author: Side comments are not tolerated here. BEGONE!** _ **(presses button on elaborate chair. Creativity is then struck with colossal hammer that sends him flying for miles)**_

 **Oh, and one last thing. I decided to change the protagonist's name to Garter. The reasons for this are actually quite numerous, but one of the big ones was that Ethan does not sound like a name that would be 'in fashion' 250 years after the fall of human kind to alien muck-balls. Aside from that, well I originally chose it in reference to Ethan Hunt from M.I. but I grew to dislike the name in attachment to my protagonist. It was really more of a placeholder that I never found a good fit for.**

 **Now, as for why I rechristened him Garter, well it's in reference to the Garter Snake. Why? Because I like snakes, I like catching Garter Snakes when I can, and I find it funny that a person named after a venom-less snake would be host for the Venom symbiote. Actually, for those who don't know, Garter snakes are relatively harmless. They rarely bite and when they do, the most it'll do is tickle.**

 **Well, now that we have that taken care of, and to put an end to this REALLY lengthy opening AN, I present chapter one of Venom: Resurgence!**

* * *

 _Get away… Must get away… Escape… Escape from… what? What were we running from? What was trying to kill us? Did it matter? Not now. All we know is that something is trying to kill us. We needed to escape… Escape… Find host…_

* * *

Garter hurried from his hiding spot behind the crumbling wall of an ancient building to the interior, his nose twitching at the scent. Thick vines and moss clung to the interior, causing a very earthy aroma to emanate from within. He peeked his head out and saw three Rippers stalking past his hiding spot, hunched over and wearing scraps of clothing and animal skins. One of them had a knife gripped tightly in one hand, while another had a bludgeoning tool slung over its shoulder. Garter held his breath as the empty-handed one crept closer to his hiding place. His hand slowly dropped to the knife he kept sheathed at his waist. He didn't dare draw it though, knowing the sound would draw attention.

The next few moments felt like hours. Thankfully, the apparent leader snarled at the one who was straying from the group, who immediately fell back in line. The trio eventually disappeared around a corner, which left Garter able to let out a sigh of relief before he went back to searching for a cache of supplies that might have been left around. After checking several locations that left him disappointed, he grinned as he found a small food cache. It mostly consisted of heavily preserved meat and something that could be considered bread by a lunatic, but it was better than nothing. Throwing the supplies into his pack, Garter began his trek out of the crumbling city. Most of buildings had collapsed, with a few still held together by trees and other vegetation that had taken root there a long time ago. The tallest structures had colossal trees that had grown right through the middle, their branches providing haphazard stability to the surrounding walls that threatened to collapse at any minute.

Garter was fifteen years old, and was roughly 5'6. He had jet-black shoulder-length hair and tanned, weather-beaten skin. His eyes were blue and hardened from surviving in the wilderness for much of his life. He also sported a hook-shaped scar on his right hand, as well as a long scar stretching from his second right rib to the back of his left calf. He was a bit underweight, but that was to be expected with his lifestyle. He was dressed in a worn-out, handmade cotton shirt and pants. They were slightly loose, but that was purposeful. It made for a greater range of motion and fewer restrictions. His pack was made from animal skins and treated to be incredibly durable.

Soon, he was in the open fields. The tall grass was a comfort, next to how paradoxically exposed he had felt in the crumbling city.

He made his way through the plains towards a small cluster of trees. Inside, there was the decaying ruins of a house. Most of the wood was rotted away, the concrete foundation was more cracked than it was not, and vegetation obscured almost everything that could have hinted at previous habitation.

Garter quickly searched for any evidence of symbiotes, Rippers or predatory wildlife. Finding none, he briefly ventured beyond the trees to gather some roots and greens that grew wild in the area. He returned to his campsite with a large handful of them. He quickly got a fire going and removed what appeared to be a cloth sack, as well as four sharp sticks from his pack. He jabbed the sticks into the ground near the fire and poured some water from a secondary waterskin into the sack and dumped a small handful of the meat into it. He added a few of the greens he had collected to the sack as well before hanging the sack by its drawstrings over the fire. The sack had been specially treated to be heat resistant, due to its purpose.

After about twenty minutes, he gingerly removed the sack from the fire and opened, the aroma from within making his stomach growl.

Most of the water had evaporated, leaving behind a meal of steam-boiled meat and greens. He removed some of the rudimentary flatbread he'd collected earlier that day and tipped a portion of his meal onto it and folding it up to eat.

After finishing his meal, Garter kicked dirt over the fire to extinguish it and rinsed the sack out with more water. Looking up, he could see that sunset was nearly over. He reached into his pack and removed a blanket of similar color to the surrounding grass and made his way over to the collapsed ruins of the old house and found a nook inside before throwing the blanket over himself. While he waited to fall asleep, he watched the stars start to emerge. The sky was filled with them, all set on a backdrop of very dark blue.

Soon enough, his eyes slid closed and sleep took him. Another day alive.

The next morning, Garter got up and removed the blanket, stuffing it back into his pack. He yawned as stretched and quickly scouted around. Everything was undisturbed since the previous day. Slinging his pack over his shoulder, Garter set off at a jog, heading North. The temperature was rising and he wanted to get out of there before it got too hot. Additionally, game birds were flocking back towards the North, meaning that he'd be more likely to find food on his route. He could see the remains of a city not too far off. He frowned. The city was the epicenter of the invasion. He could see the primary nest of the symbiotes near the city center. It was a colossal, dripping black mass, with thick, ropy tendrils wrapped around adjacent buildings. Garter's path was subtly altered to take him away from the nest. No good things came from there.

Most of the day was spent on a steady jog North, with a slight detour to the East to avoid a known Ripper pack when he saw his next stop on the horizon. It was the former location of a town. Most of it had eroded to dust, but there were a few scraps of walls left standing, looking more like short stone fences than anything. It was also a good place to cache goods. He removed some of his surplus items (A second spare knife, a third water-skin, spare wooden utensils) and stashed them in a gap in the side of what might have at one point been a shop. He'd only ever heard about those before. Not even his grandparents would have seen them. Not that age counted for much. You were lucky to reach forty out here.

After searching for any items he didn't readily have, which only ended with disappointment, he continued on his way. Eventually he was forced to stop to rest and take a drink. After ten minutes, he forced himself to his feet and kept going. It wasn't long before he noticed the sun was beginning to dip dangerously low and he decided to break for the night. Unfortunately, there wasn't any readily available shelter so he was forced to bed down in the open. It wasn't such a big deal. Symbiotes would almost never venture too far from a hunting ground unless they were travelling to a new one, and that almost never happened, regardless of if they had a host or not. Rippers were known to travel in relatively the same patterns as Travelers, but they were slow-moving and often traveled well-word routes that had been established by the Rippers through almost two centuries of use.

No, Garter's primary concern in this case would be any predatory wildlife that might be on the prowl. He doubted it though. Symbiotes would take almost any animal as a host, but they preferred hosts that had high intelligence or had predatory advantages. Hence why most game animals were relatively untouched.

Garter shook his head. He had a camp to prepare. Deciding to forego a hot meal in favour of a quick one, he devoured what remained of his flatbread and a few roots that he could reasonably chew, took a quick drink and settled in for the night.

Sleep didn't come easy this time. He felt too exposed without some nook to hide away in. To take his mind off things, he decided to try and pick out a few constellations in the sky. That helped for a while, but then his nervousness returned. However, his eyelids had grown much heavier and he soon dozed off despite his unease.

However, sleep brought its own breed of fear. He already felt dread as he saw the mountains again. Everything seemed completely normal. But he knew it wouldn't last long. He knew the screams were coming before they started. He could feel his feet pounding against the uneven rock and earth, the fearful pulling on his wrist. He heard the rumbling of stones coming loose and felt the shove in his back before his ears were filled the terrible cracking and thundering of the mountain collapsing behind him. And yet it wasn't enough to blot out the screams of the victims, nor the screeching bellows of the attackers.

His eyes snapped open. He drenched in sweat and his heart was beating a mile a minute. He sat up and wiped his brow before reaching for his waterskin and pouring some of its precious contents over his face before wiping it off.

He could see hints of red on the horizon, heralding the sun's return. He groaned and rolled to his feet, stuffing the blanket back inside. He was much hungrier than yesterday, probably because of his lackluster supper. He rummaged around in his pack for a few pieces of salted meat and rehydrated them before frying them on a flat stone he placed over the side of one of the fires. He tiredly ate his meal before washing it down with some water before extinguishing the fire with a few kicks of dirt. He stretched and checked his bearings. Once he found North again, he set off at a brisk jog. He had quite a lot of distance to cover.

* * *

 _Host… Must find host… Enemies everywhere… Need host… Where? Where were hosts? Used to be so many… Where did they go? Did enemies kill them? Take them?_

 _City… Hosts live in cities… Get to city…_

* * *

It was school hours in Safe Haven. Well, school hours were almost done, which was making for a very eager Ana Sturm. Ana was fifteen years old and had long black hair, green eyes and stood roughly 5'5. She had a pale complexion and had a standard build for her age. She attended a prestigious school located near the heart of Safe Haven, courtesy of her studious nature and her parents well-paying jobs. Her mother, Audrey Sturm was a well-known weapons developer for Safe Haven's symbiote research division, while her father, Johnathon Sturm was a soldier for Safe Haven's military. Still though, she would have preferred to attend somewhere that wasn't so… 'high class.'

It's not that the students and staff there were all bad, but most of them came from very wealthy backgrounds or were prodigies in the making, earning massive scholarships from the school. Ana didn't really fit into either category comfortably. Sure, she intelligent enough to attend school here and her parents made more than enough money to pay for her tuition and for them to live more comfortably then most, but they weren't filthy rich like what felt like one half of the student body. Nor was she some thirteen-year-old genius who understood advanced physics before they were even enrolled here!

It just left her feeling a bit like an outcast. She hadn't voiced that opinion to her parents though. She knew how hard they worked for them to live as they did. Besides, an education here would open lots of doors in the future.

The bell rang, signalling the end of classes for the day. Ana immediately piled all of her books into her bag and rushed out the door, eager to head home. Her family lived a bit far from the academy she attended, thus forcing her to take the monorail transit system away from the heart of Safe Haven. It was only a ten-minute ride from the academy, but she still disliked having to commute from home to school. She had been offered a dorm, but she declined since commuting would be much easier. Especially with the speed of the transit system. There weren't any stops to worry about, since its only purpose was to help commuters get to the inner city from the mid point.

Ana stepped onto the monorail and quickly found a seat before reaching into her pocket. She withdrew what appeared to be framed glass before tapping a few times on it, prompting it to cause several images to be projected on its surface. She tapped her holo-glass a few times to see if there were any messages from her parents or friends but didn't come across anything. She removed a pair of headphones from her bag and fitted them over her ears before putting on some music. Soon enough, she reached the station and departed swiftly.

She hurried home and into the apartment her family lived in. It was rather spacious, with a large living room, fully stocked kitchen, three bedrooms (In case of guests), and two bathrooms. There were certain perks to her parents' chosen careers one of them being that they were each given a substantial amount of money for living accommodations. They had picked this place for its proximity to both their respective careers. The spaciousness was just a nice bonus.

She threw her bag onto her bed and tapped a few times on a large holo-glass that was resting on her desk, displaying a keyboard. A second holo-glass lit up in front of her, displaying a screen that requested a password. After signing in, she was greeted with a window displaying an ancient news article about the Iron Man.

Ana had a hobby of researching the so called 'age of heroes' from before the symbiotes invaded their planet. She wasn't sure why she was so drawn to them, but she found them fascinating. Most of her research was centered around Spider Man, but she still dug up information on every hero she could find. One thing she was determined to find was the secret identity of the various heroes she researched. Some of them were too easy, such as Iron Man. He'd made it very publicly known that he was really Tony Stark. She was fascinated to find that the one who helped design the sonic projector that shielded them from the invading symbiotes was designed by a man who had constructed a nearly indestructible battle-suit in cave, using nothing but spare parts.

She kept doing her research until she finally decided that enough was enough and switched over to today's homework. It took her almost two hours to finish, but she eventually had it all completed. And now, she was hungry.

She made her way to the kitchen and began searching through the fridge for leftovers. Eventually settling on leftover pasta. After reheating it in the microwave, she began eating at a leisurely pace. Her mother would be home from work soon. Her work hours were a bit longer than the norm, but they were currently working on some really big project for bringing down the symbiote menace and that required longer hours at work. Sadly, her father wouldn't be home until much later. He always had late-hour patrols along the city perimeter. There were often humans descended from those who didn't make it to Safe Haven who would often try to get through the shield to request safe passage inside. However, the first and greatest law of Safe Haven was that no one enters Safe Haven. Most who tried were either shot upon crossing the barrier or were taken by symbiotes who lurked near the shield, knowing that humans would try crossing to safety. Ana knew that watching this all happen took a toll on her father. He always tried to smile when he was home, but rarely did it not feel a bit forced.

Ana was shaken free of her musings when she heard the sound of the lock disengaging and her mother stepped through the door. She looked completely worn out and immediately went to the fridge for dinner after a tired greeting. She sat at the couch, sleepily picked at leftover chicken. They had some brief conversation about the day before they both turned in for the evening. Ana rechecked all of her research on the age of superheroes before turning off the computer and crawling under the covers and drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the heart of Safe Haven and deep below ground, a man in a crisp three-piece suit walked through a brightly lit corridor, heading towards a large, circular room. Inside, there were what appeared to be several unfinished suits of armor.

"Do we have any estimate on when project _Fe_ will be completed?" He asked one of the engineers working on it.

"Not yet, sir. We've solved several of the hurdles, but the miniaturization is still not yet ready."

The man examined one of the unfinished suits.

"And you're positive that a salvage run is completely pointless." The man pressed. The engineer shook her head.

"No. The only known locations where the components may have been kept are the tower and the bunker and, as I am sure you're aware, they are both completely overrun by symbiotes. Perhaps if we had more reliable weaponry to stop them we could be in and out, but that's also assuming we knew where to look and that the components weren't under lock and key." The engineer reported. The man rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Thus, we're back to square one. Well, keep working. With the technology we have now, I can't imagine it will be too long before we crack it. Keep me updated on progress."

The man left the room and entered another laboratory. This one contained a tube with several undulating blobs of slime, suspended in the air.

"I still don't like this project." He muttered under his breath. One of the scientists approached.

"Sir, we've been conducting further chemical analysis, and we think we've found a compound that could theoretically cause molecular breakdown in a symbiote." The scientist reported.

"Is it viable?" The man asked. He didn't like the look on the scientist's face.

"We aren't sure yet, sir. As it stands, we would require compounds that are in short supply in Safe Haven. Additionally, we don't have the chemicals to synthesize what we need, thus necessitating we search elsewhere on Earth. We could try turning to Wakanda to see if they have any on hand, but…" The scientist trailed off as the man spun around, his hand swinging fast. He ended up smacking a pen that the scientist had been holding out of his hand. It struck a machine with a loud ping that made several scientists and technicians jolt in surprise and terror, but the man didn't notice.

"We will NOT turn to Wakanda for aid. They made it clear that they would not aid us when we proposed a trade for vibranium and they responded with laughter." The man snarled. The scientist knew what had really happened, but wisely opted to keep his mouth shut. The man left the room swiftly, not bothering to wait for an alternative solution. The scientist breathed a sigh of relief before hurrying back to the group.

"Any damage at all?" He asked in a concerned tone. The technician shook her head.

"No outward damage and all readings are as before."

The scientist wiped his brow.

"That could have been disastrous. If any of the containment tubes had been damaged…" The scientist murmured as his heartrate lowered in relief. He hurried back to a station and began inputting the settings for automatic monitoring. Once he was confident that the automatic settings were correctly calibrated, he and the rest of his fellow scientists and technicians left the lab, glad to be away from their captive enemy. Unfortunately, they had indeed failed to notice damage that had been done to lab.

A miniscule chip at the bottom of the tank. It wasn't much, but it was enough for the blue symbiote within to take notice. It began to bundle itself up tight before a single thin, sharp tendril struck the point where the chip lay on the other side. A small, nearly invisible hairline crack appeared. However, the symbiote also felt the shock from the side of the tank. The pain was incredible, but freedom was so close! It struck the spot again with pinpoint accuracy. And again… and again!

Soon enough, there was enough of a breach to slip through the cracks and escape. It began to slither through the breach, trying to ignore the pain of the shock, but it was too much! The machine seemed to know this and the pain grew worse, until it stopped. The symbiote fell to the ground with a splat. It could feel something missing and realized that the pain had caused it to sever itself from the bulk of its mass, which was now floating listlessly in the tube. The symbiote slithered away from its prison and up the wall into the ventilation system. It could sense freedom, but knew that it couldn't use a host to escape. Besides, it was weakened and wouldn't be able to control a host if it wanted to.

It took some time, but it eventually managed to make it to the surface. The symbiote oozed through a vent cover and into the open air. It needed to hide. It needed a host.

* * *

 **Well, not bad for an opening chapter, eh? And just wait until we get to dig into the meat of what we have planned.**

 **Creativity: Yeah. We got lots more ideas for how we want the story to proceed this time. Especially with some character stuff.**

 **Author: Now, don't go giving everything away.**

 **So, I'm just wrapping up the third chapter of A Very Bad Idea (Season 3) when I finished this. This story's been a really good decompressor for me, so I hope you all will enjoy this revised take on my first big story.**


	3. Monsters

**Hello again! How is everyone feeling? I'm feeling great! Well, as of this writing I am. I might not be feeling so great when this comes out, but who knows?**

 **Creativity: Probably has to do with your productivity in regards to the Godzilla story.**

 **Author: Probably a contributing factor, yes. I just finished chapter five of sixteen, with one bonus one slipped in there, so that feels really good. At the pace I'm going right now, I think I'll have A Very Bad Idea wrapped up before year's end! That would be one heluva Christmas present for myself, and you guys, since I could tack an extra date onto the update schedule.**

 **Creativity: Plus, we might be able to start uploading that other one you wanted to work on.**

 **Author: Possibly. That one's taking a bit of a backseat right now, but there's enough of a backlog that we might… WHAT AM I SAYING!? (slams hand down on button on expensive chair, which launches both author and creativity out of the studio)**

 **We apologize for these unforeseen difficulties. The Author should be returning in 3... 2... 1...**

 **(CRASSSSSHHHHH)**

 **Author: Sorry about that. Now, Questions.**

 **Creativity: Only one this week so far, from one Joeclone!**

 **Author: Ah yes! let's see... okay.**

 **So, we just chose Nevada for a few reasons, chief of which was that it's in the middle of a desert, which would act as a small barrier for symbiotes. That aside, the husk of Las Vegas would be an excellent place for symbiotes to prowl around, the large open areas make it hard for symbiotes to sneak closer, and because New York is one of the biggest hives for symbiote activity in this version. Hope that addresses everything!**

 **Now, let us proudly present chapter 2!**

* * *

Garter grunted as he climbed up the towering vines that snaked up the side of a building. There was a valuable cache somewhere on the upper floors of the crumbling skyscraper and he was hell-bent on finding it. If his suspicions were correct, it would likely contain an item he'd been trying to acquire for quite some time.

It was only when he reached the fourth floor did he start questioning if climbing all the way up here was worth it, but this was the floor he was aiming to reach. He knew there was a cache up here. Places that were difficult to reach always had a cache, and they were usually valuable ones too.

His persistence was rewarded soon enough when he found one of the items he'd hoped to find: A grappling hook.

It was a simple design, appearing as three claws, similar to a garden rake. The rope was of sturdy construction and the actual hook was made of durable iron. Working metal wasn't a common skill among Travelers, so items like grappling hooks and metal tools were a rarity. Most tools were made of stone, but Garter had learned excellent bartering skills in his youth, which he'd used to acquire his steel knife. His other ones were metal, but they worked well enough in a bind.

After securing the grappling hook to his belt, he made his way back down the vines, which was much easier than climbing up. Once he reached the ground, he continued making his way North. He wasn't fond of spending time in the 'stone forests' as the cities had come to be known as. They were often shelter to multiple packs of Rippers, and the occasional symbiote, hosted or otherwise. Needless to say, they weren't exactly the best places to bed down for the night. They'd do if you couldn't get out of the city in time, but they weren't the first choice.

Unfortunately, the sun was already dipping low on the horizon and Garter and didn't have confidence that he could find a suitable place to bed down for the night outside the city before dark. So, he found one of the more structurally sound looking skyscrapers and used his new-found grappling hook to climb up to the third floor. There was a large tree growing up through the middle of the buildings and it had dropped plenty of dry wood for him to use for a fire. After cooking himself a dinner of fried venison, he ate swiftly and doused the fire before moving to a small gap in the trunk of the tree. It was probably created when the tree had been growing a few decades earlier, by the concrete leaning in towards the tree, pinching it. Whatever the cause, it made for a good hiding spot. He pulled out his camouflaged bedroll and settled in for the night. At least, that was his plan. He heard what sounded like grunting and snarling near his shelter. When he sat up and looked towards the gap he had climbed through, he could see a distinct orange glow that indicated fire. He tossed the blanket off and his hand dropped to his knife as he slowly crept over to the hole in the wall and floor, peering over the ledge. He managed to keep from cursing when he saw an entire pack of Rippers, about eighteen strong, were prowling through the area. Several of them held torches, the flames casting eerie shadows over the walls.

Garter began to assess the situation. He was undiscovered for the moment, though he doubted he would be so lucky for long. The pack was of average size and appeared to be going somewhere specific. The fire leaned toward that as well since if they were hunting, the fire would spook away any potential prey. Where would they be going?

He got his answer when they stopped and waited. Garter turned his gaze in the same direction that the Rippers were looking in. His breath caught as he saw another group of torches approaching from down the street. As they got closer, he could see it was another pack of Rippers. This second pack wasn't quite as large as the first, but they appeared better fed and physically stronger than the first. Garter could pick out the leaders of both packs, as they were easily the largest of the groups, and wore the largest collection of animal pelts and skins. They also sported large quantities of what disturbingly appeared to be human bones adorning their bodies. Garter backed lowered himself closer to the concrete slab. He wasn't sure exactly what was happening, since his experience with Rippers only extended as far as running from them, though he had been forced to deal with one or two in a combative situation before.

That aside, even when he had seen two packs meet, they always immediately devolved to an all-out brawl between both packs, which usually ended with one pack retreating, or both packs dead. It was usually the latter.

The two leaders stepped forward and stared each other in the eye. The packs separated, with five from each pack forming a ring around the two leaders, while the remaining ones scattered into the buildings. Garter cursed as several of them started climbing up towards him! He hurried back to his pack as quickly and quietly as he could before he began climbing up to the next floor, praying he wasn't noticed. It wasn't long before he reached the next floor, considering his motivation. Luckily, they took no notice of him. It seemed that whatever was happening down there, it was of incredible interest to the Rippers.

Garter crawled to the next ledge and peered down at the circle. The pack leaders had shed all of their bone adornments and most of their clothing. The Rippers that formed the circle were all holding the torches. More specifically, they were holding them in towards the middle, as if to burn the leaders if they got too close. The two leaders bent over until their knuckles were just scraping the ground and they bent their knees. In the torchlight, Garter could see that each one had a different pattern scarred into their back.

Suddenly, they both bellowed and charged each other like lions and began to violently brawl! Garter almost lost track in the flailing tangle of limbs as they wrestled in the ring, roaring like animals as one tried to overpower the other! Garter wasn't sure how long the two leaders were fighting for, but eventually, one was pinned to the ground. Both were bleeding and bruised. The one pinned to the ground struggled and thrashed, trying desperately to break free from his opponent's grip, but was held steadfast and had a knee driven into his side. The pinned one finally lay still in surrender and was released. The leader slowly walked out of the ring and off into the night. Three of the others followed him, while the remainder joined in the victor's celebrations. Garter sighed in relief, then felt the urge to curse when he felt his elbow brush against a piece of loose concrete. The piece fell from the ledge and struck the stone street below. Garter had already scooted back to avoid being noticed, but the Rippers below him shrieked like banshees and began climbing up towards him!

Garter was cursing himself, the Rippers and the universe rather creatively as he climbed higher up the building, searching desperately for a means of escape. Unfortunately, he couldn't see any way out that wouldn't lead to him plummeting to his death, with or without his new grappling hook. Hopefully, he could get to a floor that was more strategically advantageous than these floors, but he doubted he could be so lucky. Besides, with all of the noise they were making, it wouldn't be long before more Ripper packs came running. Garter just hoped that was ALL he had to deal with. If there was even a single symbiote in the city, he and the rest of the Rippers would be as good as dead.

Garter fought to keep climbing, but eventually he came to the conclusion that only climbing more was not a smart use of his energy, which was already spent from climbing as high as he had. He scrambled to his feet and drew his knife, looking around the floor to find anything else that might give him a much-needed edge. Much to his dismay, but not surprise, there was nothing. However, the opening to climb through was much narrower than the previous floors, which would force the Rippers to come through two at a time, max. Garter steeled himself for a fight, his knuckles turning white as his grip on the knife tightened. Suddenly, he felt something heavy impact his shoulders and nape of his neck before he was yanked from the ground! Garter yelped in surprise as he was lifted off the ground and into the darkness above him. His knife fell from the darkness, clattering to the concrete. Eventually, several Rippers climbed through the gap and began searching for their prey desperately. Soon, another set of Rippers joined them.

Then, something fell to the ground, making less noise than a pin drop. It was large and muscular, with inky black skin, only broken up by a giant white spider that was plastered across its chest. The legs of the spider wrapped around to the back, where they joined another spider. The thing slowly turned to stare at the Rippers and its mouth slowly opened to reveal a maw of razor sharp teeth and a tongue that was at least a foot long, possibly longer. Its eyes looked like some sort of mask; jagged and solid white.

The Rippers shrieked again, this time in terror as the creature lunged at them and began to rip them limb from limb.

* * *

Ana was counting the seconds until class was officially over. She wished she could be in science or even mathematics rather than history for the final class of the day, but she couldn't be that lucky. Luckily, it was only a few more minutes until class was over. A few long, agonizing minutes.

It seemed paradoxical that she would find history class so boring, given her fascination with the Age of Heroes. Despite its very existence being owed to the heroes who helped build it and protected it until it could be brought online, Safe Haven was rather dismissive of them. It was often frowned upon to discuss any of the old heroes publicly, even more so to teach of them in classrooms, despite how integral they were to Safe Haven's history.

Perhaps it was the fact that they were so important to their history and ignored that spurred her to learn more about them herself.

Soon the bell rang, sounding the end of class for the day. Ana was immediately on her feet and leaving the school, half-jogging to her transit line. However, as she stepped on a sewer grate, an incredibly small blob of blue slime became stuck to the bottom of her shoe. It scrunched itself up into one of the spaces the grippy surface and shifted its color to match with the shoe's underside.

Ana tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the monorail to reach her station. She could swear that it was taking longer than usual for the monorail to collect passengers and get going. Soon enough, however, the monorail reached her station and she disembarked as quickly as she could.

She hurried home and up to her room, where she immediately began her research again. Today, she was continuing her research on Spider Man. From what she had gathered, Spider Man had been a surprisingly well-known superhero, considering he operated almost exclusively in what used to be New York City. He operated solo for the most part, but was a regular member of the Avengers and often found himself aiding other heroes that were working in New York. The most consistent source of news about Spider Man during the Age of Heroes was the Daily Bugle, though it seemed to have a slightly… biased opinion of the web-slinger. Other news sources, scarce as they were, painted him as the best of the best when it came to New York superheroes.

She didn't make much headway in her research today. Despite his fame, positive or negative, there had been little to nothing known about him. However, there was one thing that did frequently come up. All of the Daily Bugle's photos of Spider Man, practically the only ones in existence, were almost all taken by a single person; one Peter Parker.

There wasn't much on Peter Parker either, other than that he was basically the only one who managed to get to take accurate photos of the hero. Soon enough, she decided to call it a day, but not before making a note to look further into Peter Parker when she had the opportunity. Normally, she would be all for doing so on the weekend, especially since she also had Monday and Tuesday off, but she was visiting her grandparents that weekend and didn't want to spend what time she had with them on her research. Her grandmother was in her late 70s and had suffered two heart attacks in her lifetime. She had been a doctor while Ana's grandfather had been a high-ranking military officer. He had also suffered his fair share of heart problems, as was common for military patrols on the wall. He was already long lived for someone of his former profession and he was still able to go about his day with relative ease. It was very fortunate, as they had initially suspected that his latest trip to the hospital would be his last.

Ana shook her head. She had homework to take care of before she could think about her grandparents. Unfortunately, it was more history.

She made her way through about half of it before she realized she was hungry. Really hungry. She checked the clock and was surprised to see that it was forty-five minutes passed her usual dinnertime. She immediately stood up and went down to the kitchen to pick out something for dinner. After a few minutes, she decided to make herself a small breakfast for dinner. Deciding on eggs on toast with some leftover chicken and gravy, she set about preparing the eggs while the chicken was reheated. Soon enough, she had two over-easy fried eggs on toast, several pieces of steaming chicken covered in gravy. She at the table for a change, devouring her meal quickly before hurrying back upstairs to continue her homework. The homework took longer than she anticipated and it was soon very late. She hurried downstairs and got started on washing the dishes from her dinner. She tried to clean up all of her dishes before her parents got home. Her mother had warned her that she would be working late that night.

As she was finishing the dishes, her hand slipped and a knife fell across her palm. She bit back a curse as she went to the washroom to clean the cut and bandage it. It wasn't deep by any stretch, but it still stung something fierce. After that, she couldn't be bothered to finish the dishes and finished getting ready for bed. She collapsed on her bed and fell asleep instantly.

* * *

 _Midnight…_

A tiny drip of blue slime slipped out of the small space in Ana's shoe and began to drag itself across the floor. It slithered up the stairs towards the creature it sensed. It could sense incredible potential within it. It continued its way down the dark hallways until it reached the chamber the creature slumbered in. One of its appendages hung down. The slime approached and latched onto the appendage, climbing up to the palm. It sensed a wound on its new host and as it slithered over, the wound was erased, leaving fresh skin. It kept climbing until it reached the nape of the creature's neck and scrunched up to the size of a quarter before camouflaging itself against the creature's skin.

Ana could feel herself plummeting through the air before suddenly arcing up. It felt strange. So alien, yet… so familiar. It felt so disjointed, as though the feeling was cut apart and rebuilt from dozens of similar feelings. She saw a gloved hand in the edge of her vision, but it kept flickering and changing, never staying quite the same. The feeling kept repeating; over and over again. She felt so confused by this.

Suddenly her eyes were open, staring at the ceiling of her room. She slowly sat up and closed her eyes, shaking her head. She slowly climbed out of bed and stretched before shaking again, trying to get rid of her lingering drowsiness. She noticed the bandage on her hand and decided to check the cut. She removed the bandages and was surprised to find the cut had vanished! Not even the trace of a scar!

Then she remembered that school was starting soon! She checked the time and sighed with relief. There was still time. She threw together a rushed lunch and breakfast before taking care of her morning ablutions and rushing out the door. She just barely made it to the transit station to catch her monorail. She didn't know why, but she felt really energetic; ready to take on the world.

* * *

 **Oh, I'm really happy with the new origin stories I've come up for both my protagonists. You might have picked up on one of them already, but I won't spoil it if you haven't.**

 **Creativity: The decompression story is coming along well.**

 **Author: Yeah... God it feels good to come back to this.**

 **Well, considering its 2 in the morning as I'm wrapping this up, I don't have the energy to think of any stuff to talk about this time. Have a good day!**


	4. Realization

**Good day to you all again! Lovely Wednesday isn't it? I'm really loving where this story is going. I'm also making it a bit more… okay, no dancing around it. Once I really get going, it's going to get real bloody. I'm definitely leaning more on the upcoming Venom movie than I was leaning towards… whatever I was leaning on before.**

 **Creativity: So, are we talking an all out splatterfest, or something more tame?**

 **Author: Somewhere in the middle. Not sure if we'll do any head-chomping, but we're definitely looking to draw more blood this time.**

 **Okay, no more preamble and no questions today. Let us begin chapter 3!**

* * *

Today felt strange to Ana. All day, she'd felt this nervous buzzing. It made it hard to sit still in class. After some time, she was able to ignore it, but it was still there.

Then, when she had been in gym class, it suddenly spiked. The activity of the day was dodgeball. Every time someone threw a dodgeball at her, even if she wasn't looking, the buzzing would instantly go through the roof! Weirder than that, she would almost always dodge the ball without fail, regardless of whether she saw it coming or not!

No one seemed to notice, or they at least didn't bring it up with her. She was confused about this for the remainder of the day. Thankfully, they were let out early today. As she rode home on the monorail, the buzzing continued. Though, it was much more subdued. That didn't make it any less annoying.

Soon enough, she reached her station and disembarked. She still had to pack her bags before her mother arrived to drive her to her grandparents' home. She hurried home and began rummaging through her closet for her suitcase. Once she pried it out, she threw two sets of clothes into the suitcase, as well as a couple of holo-books, she lifted the suitcase and went to wait in the living room. Strangely, the suitcase felt much lighter than the last time she'd used it. It was almost weightless! Granted, she did have much less packed this time, but it still felt lighter than it should. She opened it again to make sure everything was still packed and found it as she left it.

Then she felt her holo-glass buzz. She checked it to find a message from her mother. She was waiting outside. Ana hurried out the door and into the car.

"How was class today?" Her mother asked. They didn't to talk to much recently since she had to work many late hours. She even put in hours on weekends, though it was only a two or three per day.

"It was fine. Still don't like history." Ana replied. Her mother's lips twitched.

"Nobody did when I was your age. Anything interesting in your other classes?" Her mother continued. Ana shrugged.

"Chemistry isn't too bad. We're going over advanced organic compounds right now. Physics isn't too bad either." Ana responded. She decided to omit the strange buzzing sensation she'd had all day. If it persisted, then she'd talk to her mom about it.

The chatted a bit more until they pulled up at her grandparents' home. It was a modest house, only one floor with an attic. It was painted dark tan color with wooden steps leading up to the door. There was also a ramp put in for her grandparents' ease. On the right side of the house there was a large bay window with translucent white curtains.

She walked up to the front door and knocked a few times. There were only a few moments before her grandmother answered the door. She was rather thin, wearing a flower-print dress and shawl over her shoulders. Her gray hair was pulled up in a bun and behind her glasses were those kind blue eyes.

She greeted Ana with a hug before doing the same for Ana's mother.

"Have fun!" Ana's mother called out as she walked back to her car. She was still needed at the lab where she worked. Ana's grandmother ushered Ana inside. Ana took her suitcase to the guest room where she always slept when she stayed over. The room was painted gray and had basic white sheets and blankets over a double bed. There was a dresser with a mirror across from the bed, white and gray, respectively.

Once she had unpacked her things, Ana went back to the living room where her grandmother was waiting for her. Her grandfather was settled in his chair. He smiled as she walked in and stood up to give her a hug as well. He was only an inch taller than Ana and despite his age, had a very strong grip. He wore flannel shirts almost all the time and was a bit heavyset. Despite his years working as a guardsman on the walls, he still had a happy twinkle in his eyes. A refusal to be beaten by the horrors he'd witnessed over his life.

By now it was nearing dinnertime, so everyone went to the kitchen to start preparing supper. Ana was practically drooling already. Every time she came to visit, they always had her favourite meal: Beef and potato casserole with cream of mushroom sauce.

With three people working, it wasn't long before the casserole was in the oven. While they waited, Ana talked about her research. It was actually her grandparents that had initially supported her in the endeavor. Her grandfather had been a bit iffy on it initially but supported her interest. It was only harmless research after all. However, when she got to the part about Peter Parker, her grandmother seemed to tense up a bit. Her eyes flicked down the hallway for a split second. Ana noticed this but didn't point it out. She didn't want to pressure her now. Besides, the alarm had just gone off, indicating the casserole was ready!

The table was quickly set, and they began digging in. By the end of dinner, she had eaten four servings! Normally she only had two, possibly three if she was really hungry. Her grandmother commented on this newfound appetite, which Ana shrugged off as just being really hungry that day. Afterwards, they all went to the living room and watched an assortment of old movies, with popcorn of course. Her favorite movie was an old movie about an alien world threatened by shapeshifting sorcerers. The good aliens create an army of cyborgs called the Space Knights, who set out to battle the shapeshifting sorcerer aliens. It was one of the first movies she remembered watching and every time she watched it, it made her feel at home.

Soon, it was time for bed. After going through her evening rituals, she bid her grandparents goodnight and crawled under the covers, drifting off to sleep nearly instantly.

It was but a few hours later that she woke up with a start. She'd had that dream again. That disjointed dream of flying, then falling, then flying again. Realizing that her throat felt parched, she got up for a glass of water. As she was walking to the door, she heard a loud **CLANG!** that caused her to jump. She immediately heard a number of curses in an undertone that sounded like her grandfather. But her attention was yanked away from that when she realized that she was currently stuck to the ceiling. Her feet and fingers were glued to the ceiling, preventing her from falling! Almost as soon as she realized it, she fell down, but her feet and hands shot out and she landed on all fours without making a noise! She slowly straightened up, looking at her hands in shock and awe. She had just been stuck to a wall like some sort of insect or…

Or a spider.

* * *

Garter jerked awake. He was lying in a small alcove of a tree that had grown through a building. It looked familiar, but not quite the same as the one he remembered falling asleep in. He shook his head. He remembered being chased by two groups of Rippers, then… nothing.

He looked around and saw no evidence of a fire or Rippers, but he did find his pack nearby. He sorted through it and found everything how he'd left it. After checking his belt to make sure his knife was still there, he peered out at his surroundings. He was closer to the city borders. Closer than he remembered getting yesterday but considering that lunatic dream he'd had, he chose not to think about it too much.

He looked around and found a good place to climb down. It felt easier to climb down today, Garter noticed. He didn't pay it much mind. After getting his bearings, he continued North.

He set off a brisk jog. He kept up the pace for a few hours, before stopping for a quick break. He didn't even feel that winded, but he'd already travelled farther in one stretch than usual. After a quick drink and a snack, he set off again. He picked up the pace a bit more, keeping an eye out for any potential danger. His dream from the previous night had him on edge. Especially since it felt like there was something… missing. Taken.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He could seem something approaching a trail and slowed down to check it. It was well worn, definitely used often.

This was definitely a path made by Rippers. There wasn't enough wildlife that travelled around to make a path like this. Symbiotes didn't travel enough to make a path like this.

He adjusted his course slightly to take him away from the path, just to be careful. Soon he was closer to an old, decaying settlement. Curiously, there was smoke rising from within it. Rippers never lit flames during the day.

Garter continued into the town but approached with plenty of caution. His instincts were telling him that there was something not good about the situation. As he got closer, he saw a group of three Travelers seated around the smoldering remains of a fire. They were all older, maybe in their mid to late twenties. Early thirties if he was to stretch it. They were all cooking something on the end of sharpened sticks. They were chattering amongst themselves until they noticed him approaching.

"Hey! You better not be here to ask for food! We're running a bit low on rations at the moment!" One of them called out. Garter held up his hands to say no.

"I just noticed the fire and came to investigate. You travel in a group?" He asked. The group nodded.

"Safety in numbers. There's been a few Ripper packs moving through the area lately and we don't want to be caught off-guard." Another replied. Then Garter noticed something. They were all wearing scarves. It seemed a bit strange since the weather was rather warm, but Garter paid it no mind as he leaned against a crumbling wall to relax, then took a drink of water from one of his skins.

"You have a grappling hook?" One of them asked. Garter looked up and realized he hadn't stashed it away. Rather, he had clipped it to his trousers.

"Yeah. Found it yesterday." He said nonchalantly. He didn't want to draw too much attention to it. All of a sudden, he was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. He could swear he felt a faint buzzing all over his body. He stood up to leave and began walking away from the camp.

"Well, I got more ground I want to cover. Good luck!" He called out as he walked away, to suddenly feel the sudden urge he was in danger. His body suddenly tucked down and rolled to the side, just as a knife whistled through the space that his neck had once occupied! He popped back to his feet and saw the other Travelers were now on their feet, knives drawn. Then Garter noticed something by the edge of the fire. Blood droplets. Worse, he could see more bloodstains in an area he couldn't see before. All of it leading to the corpse of another Traveler. His eyes turned back to the Travelers with scarves.

"You're Branded." He realized. They snarled and stalked forward, circling around him. His eyes shifted between all of them and he realized just how much trouble he was in.

Branded were Travelers that were deemed too dangerous, disruptive or insane to interact with. Criteria for being labelled a Branded included the murder of fellow Travelers, cannibalism, thieving at gatherings of Travelers, the list went on. And he knew which ones he had just come across. Cannibals.

Once someone was labelled a Branded, they were, well, branded on their neck, before being thrown into the wilderness to fend for themselves. Killing them would be a kindness.

Garter quickly assessed the situation. He couldn't run, and he couldn't hide. That left fighting. The odds were three on one, not in his favor, as well as experience not being in his favor. He needed more favorable ground. When the first Branded charged him, he rolled under the strike and sprinted back into the settlement, vaulting a wall and drawing his knife. He turned and saw a knife whirling towards him and ducked, allowing it to pass over harmlessly. He turned and reeled back as a fist smashed him in the face, sending him sprawling! He saw the culprit bearing down on him and swung his knife, landing a hit on his arm! The Branded shouted in pain and retreated. His companions stalked forward, a knife in each hand. Garter grit his teeth and held his knife in front of him, waiting for the cannibals to get closer. Finally, one lunged. He swiped his knife and scored a lucky hit, only to gasp as he looked down. The second knife was lodged in his side. Then another was planted in his stomach.

The knives were ripped free as he staggered back. Blood poured from the wounds. The Branded smirked as they advanced, ready to finish him off. Garter vision began to blur.

Then it suddenly snapped back into focus. His arm snapped forward and suddenly, a mass of goo launched from his sleeve and slammed into the first one like a bludgeon and throwing him through the air before smashing through a crumbling stone wall! The goo immediately retreated back into the sleeve, leaving Garter staring at his arm with a shell-shocked expression. Then his other arm snapped out and another massive goo tendril shot forward and grabbed the second one, yanking him within arms reach! His left arm suddenly became goo-covered and swung around in a left hook that snapped the Branded's neck!

The final Branded stood and saw what Garter had done and turned to run, only for several tendrils to erupt from Garter's shirt and grab onto his legs, hauling him towards Garter. Garter watched in horror as the tendrils suddenly sharpened and slammed into his back with a loud squelching sound! Then, tons of black spikes erupted from the Branded's body with sprays of blood. Then they retreated, and the tendrils were sucked back into his shirt. Garter stared in horror at what had just happened. He knew that slime. He knew what he was.

He was the host of a symbiote.

His eyes turned to the smoldering embers of the fire and he stared for a few seconds before charging at it, intent to dive on it and force the symbiote from his body! He didn't make it two steps before black tendrils erupted from his clothes and dragged him back, pinning him to a wall while a voice echoed through his mind. It sounded weak and panicked.

" _NOOOooooo…"_ It exclaimed but died away. Garter was trapped for a good two minutes before the tendrils released him. He stood up in a daze and contemplated trying to leap on the fire again, only for the voice to return.

" _Noooo."_ It said again. Garter stood there, looking at the fire. Then he turned and stumbled off in the general direction of North. He didn't even notice that his wounds were healed. All he knew was that he was the host of a symbiote. And not even the release of death was open to him.

The sun was already setting, and he was nowhere near anything that could serve as shelter. Even if he wasn't necessarily out of energy, he was walking as if he were dead on his feet, his mind reeling from the day's events. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over him, and he stumbled before collapsing to the ground. He didn't even feel the impact or make any effort to stand up again. He just lay there on his side, staring deadly at the horizon. Eventually, he faded into unconsciousness. The symbiote began to awaken, wrapping around his body until he looked like a man who had just swam in tar. The body stood up roughly and began to stagger towards somewhere with proper shelter.

The symbiote had found a host. Now it needed to protect it.

* * *

It was second day since Ana had found herself clinging to the ceiling of her room and she was freaking out. She hadn't told her grandparents at all, but they seemed to know something was up.

 _As if it wasn't written all over my face…_ Ana thought. When she was sure that everyone was asleep again, she had tried to climb the wall again. It took a few tries, but she'd eventually figured out how to do it every time. Still, she was reeling from the revelation of her new abilities. How had she gotten them? Why had they only appeared now?

She wished she had her research notes. Not that they would be any good, but it would at least be a start.

She had initially thought of asking her mother, but immediately discounted that. With the symbiote paranoia and general dislike of age-old heroes, it was probably better if she kept it to herself for now. Besides, she didn't know the full reach of what she could do. She obviously had wallcrawling, as well as enhanced strength, considering how effortless it had been to hold herself flush against the ceiling of her room, as well as how her suitcase now felt lighter than air. Another thing that sprang to mind was a danger sense, explaining the game of dodgeball on Friday. That didn't explain why that buzzing was going on all the time, though it had significantly quieted down since she got to her grandparent's house. Then she had a thought. Her grandmother had been acting funny after Ana had mentioned Peter Parker, the only one who had managed to get proper pictures of Spider Man two-and-a-half centuries ago. Maybe she knew something that could help.

She began looking around the house for her, eventually finding her in the living room, watching TV.

"Hey grandma, could I ask you something?" Ana asked a bit hesitantly. Given how her grandmother had been acting, she didn't want her to react badly to the question.

"You already did dear, but do you have another question?" Her grandmother joked. Ana groaned. That was usually her grandfather's joke.

"I was wondering if you knew anything about Peter Parker." She asked. Immediately her grandmother's expression changed.

"Why are you interested?" Her grandmother asked with equal hesitation. Ana took a seat and tried to think of an answer to that question that would not cause her grandmother to clam up about it.

"It's just that his name keeps popping up when it comes to Spider Man. Plus, when I mentioned his name on Friday, you started acting strange. You looked down the hall, towards the attic. Even all of that aside, his name sounds familiar to me. Do you know something about him?" Ana lightly pressed. Her grandmother sighed.

"I think its best you stay away from that, dear. I know you want to know more about the age of heroes, but some of that information can be dangerous to you." Her grandmother said carefully. Ana tilted her head, confused by her grandmother's response, and disappointed that she hadn't a clear answer. Still, she wasn't deterred. If her grandmother wasn't going to tell her, then she'd just have to do some investigating by herself.

And that meant getting into the attic.

* * *

 **Ana has spider powers now! I mean, if you read the previous version of this story, you already knew that. However, I'm really shifting around the details of how and why all of this works this time around.**

 **Creativity: And how about that scene you lifted from the Venom Trailer?**

 **Author: Well yeah, because its just AWESOME! But yeah, I included that for a few different reasons that I might explain later.**

 **I really like this revised origin I've come up with. Plus, I get to dig in and flesh out the Traveler (New name for Runner) culture, as well as Ripper culture. I didn't do much of that last time and that was one of my biggest regrets.**

 **I'm also liking the idea of five chapter sets more and more, as it lets me keep things neat and contained for what segment of the story I'm creating.**

 **Well, I think that's enough for today. See ya tomorrow!**


	5. Discovery

**Hello everyone! So, as I'm writing this, the Venom movie has come out and is receiving mixed reviews. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm looking into it, mainly for the purposes of this story alone. Look, I like Venom, I think he's a good character, Tom Hardy looks to be bringing his A game, but I honestly didn't have high hopes for this movie BEFORE the R rating was scrapped in favor of PG-13. To be clear, I think Venom would work as a PG-13 movie, but I know it wouldn't work if it had been presumably conceived, shot, edited and promoted as R rated, then just a few weeks before releasing it gets retroactively twisted into a more "kid friendly" version of itself. It's like making a beef stew, leaving it to simmer, then deciding "You know what? I want vegetarians to be able to eat this!" and then scooping out all the beef when the stew is basically done. Not a problem if the movie had been made PG-13 to begin with, but then that means that Sony was lying through their teeth almost all the way to the bank.**

 **Creativity: That's a lot of thoughts on the movie for having not seen it yet.**

 **Author: Thank you for pointing that out. Now go stand in the corner.**

 **Anyway, I think my pre-viewing thoughts are all out there now. Oh, and aside from the tendril stuff (which looks awesome) and Riot's blades (Also look awesome) It doesn't really feel like Venom's bringing anything that the Hulk hasn't already done in terms of action. Seriously, I LOVE watching the promotional clip of Venom puny god-ing that SWAT guy, but the way I was able to describe it is exactly the problem. It's been done, and in a really memorable, quotable way.**

 **Okay, well the movie will have been out for well over a week by the time this comes out (Actually it'll be exactly two, possible three weeks) so I'll probably have seen it by then. So you'll get to hear my thoughts on it tomorrow.**

 **Creativity: Questions!**

 **Author: Yes! Only one today (more of a comment), from one OMACOO1. Yes, it is fun to just invent cultures for your fictional universe, though it isn't that hard this time, since the ideas for them were briefly structured in my head for a VERY long time, and just need to be put to paper. If there's one thing I've learned from this, it is that revision is your best friend ever.**

 **Alright, this bit has gotten too long. I present chapter 4 of Venom: Resurgence!**

* * *

"G'night, grandma!"

"Night, dear."

Ana shut the door to her room and climbed under the covers, pretending to go to sleep. It was rather hard, and she worried how convincing it was, since she was so wired from her plan that she felt like a coiled spring, ready to snap.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before she heard her grandparents heading for bed. Once she heard them finish crawling under the covers and waited for the snoring to start.

Ana had initially been rather excited and anxious about her plan to sneak into the attic tonight, but now she was feeling slightly nervous and a bit bad about it now. It didn't feel good to sneak around behind her grandparents' backs. However, there was definitely something fishy going on. Multiple times, both her grandparents had heard mention of the age of heroes and glanced towards the attic, as if on reflex. Then her grandmother had exhibited that reflex even more when she heard the name Peter Parker, as if the name meant something to her. Whatever the case, she intended to find out tonight. And her newfound powers would help her do so.

Ana waited until 11:30 at night, knowing that her grandparents would be fast asleep. Once that happened, she slowly crept up the walls and onto the ceiling. It was a little disorienting at first, but she adjusted quickly. She slowly edged the door open and crawled out of her room to the attic hatch. Once she was close enough, she pressed her fingers to it, hoping they'd stick, and pushed it open, crawling into the dark attic. Luckily, she had brought a flashlight along. Once she made sure that the hatch was closed, she switched on the flashlight and began searching.

She went through a number of boxes and holo-records, finding nothing related to Peter Parker. Until that is, she found an antique chest, tucked away in a back corner. She made her way over to it and slowly undid the latches on it and lifted the lid off. The contents of the chest were enough to take her breath away.

Within the chest lay preserved news articles, photos, and even an antique camera, just on the surface. All of articles had photos credited to Peter Parker, the camera had his name on the back and several of the photos had one man common to them. After sifting through a few more items, she found a really photo album and began leafing through it. Then she found what looked like a set of photos from a graduation convocation. Soon enough, she found one that featured the entire year and a list of names to go with it. She searched the names diligently until she found Peter Parker. He was younger than in some of his pictures, but it was unmistakably the same man in the other photos.

What were photos and belongings of Peter Parker doing in her grandparents' attic?

She began replacing the items in the chest when she felt something shift. The section containing the photos and other memorabilia was removable.

She carefully found the grips to remove the section and lifted it, carefully placing it on the attic floor before looking in the chest, only for her heart to start beating like a jackhammer.

Within there were costumes, small gadgets and other small bits that all had belonged to Spider Man.

* * *

Garter's eyes slowly cracked open. He slowly stood up and looked around. It was already bright out. His surroundings didn't seem much different than when he had collapsed the previous day. Why had he…

Then it all came rushing back. The encounter with the branded, getting stabbed and beginning to bleed out, only to discover that he had a parasite attached to his body that healed him, then proceeded to brutally murder all three of the branded.

Garter's hand dropped to his shirt subconsciously and swore he felt it tighten against his skin. He drew his hand away and looked at it, the numb feeling return.

What did he do now? Where did he go?

Slumping to the ground, Garter buried his face in his hands as he tried to think of what he should do. Then something occurred to him.

Why could he decide what to do? Why hadn't the symbiote taken control of him the moment it bonded to him? Was it going to do so when he had his guard down? But then, why hadn't done so while he was asleep? It just didn't make sense!

He could have sworn he felt his clothes tighten again for a brief moment, but it was so subtle and for such a short time, he was almost ready to dismiss it. Even still, he was even more alert for it now.

Garter stood up and rechecked his things, seeking some form of comfort in routine. After he finished inventory, he got his bearings and continued his trek North.

He must have been jogging for hours, but he didn't feel winded at all. He did feel hungry though, so he pulled some bread out of his pack and tore off a few chunks before wolfing it down. After finishing off his snack, he kept moving, though at a slower pace. His legs were finally starting to feel how much work they were being put through. Looking ahead, he could see that there was a city on the horizon. He checked the sun and frowned. It was getting late and he preferred to not bed down in a place that was bound to be crawling with Rippers or symbiotes.

Though, he supposed that the latter was probably not a problem anymore, considering he had one mimicking his clothing. And it wasn't controlling him. At least, not to his knowledge.

That was another thing that had been hovering in the back of his head. Just how 'in control' was he? Could the symbiote just suddenly decide to take over and lock him away in his own head? If that's even how it worked. For all he knew, it would just liquefy his brain and take up residence in his skull.

His musings were broken when he reached the city. Now he had to make a choice. Did he enter the city and have easy access to shelter, at the risk of being discovered by Rippers, Branded or Symbiotes, or did he stay outside the city and chance having no shelter for the night?

He didn't spend too long thinking about it, considering the problem that was attached to him. He entered the city and began assessing his surroundings to find a suitable shelter for the night. After all, it wasn't like he could make things any worse for himself.

Eventually finding a rather secluded section in a collapsed building, he lit a fire and started preparing a meal. It took a little longer than usual, mainly thanks to his passenger. Any time his hand went anywhere the fire, whether it was to stir the coals with a stick or check the food, the symbiote would tense up on his body. He could even feel it in his mind. At least, he thought he did. It was hard to tell.

Soon the meal was finished, and he wolfed it down before dousing the fire. He was starting to get irritated with the symbiote constantly tensing up whenever he so much as looked at the fire; finding it very distracting. Funnily enough, the symbiote seemed to shrink away when this irritation flared up, almost as if it was embarrassed.

Eventually, the sun dipped below the horizon. Garter unrolled his bedding for the night and shut his eyes before drifting to a fitful sleep. It wasn't a long one though.

" _Garter…"_

…

" _Garter."_

…

" _Garter, wake up."_

Garter's eyes snapped open. He could have sworn he heard a voice. As his eyes adjusted, he quickly surveyed his surroundings, though he saw nothing.

" _We need to leave… now…"_

Garter bolted up and began looking around again. He knew he'd heard something. Then he realized that it was all in his head.

 _They're getting closer. We need to leave."_ The symbiote continued in his head. Garter pressed a hand to his temple. It felt so alien to hear a voice echoing around in his own head.

"What are you talking about? Who…" Garter started, only for the symbiote to interrupt him.

" _No time. We need to leave. Now."_ The symbiote urged, sounding rather stressed. Garter quickly packed up his bedding and slung his pack over his shoulders before making his way out of the shelter. Sticking close to the walls, he snuck down the streets, his drowsiness rapidly washing away. The symbiote's sense of urgency seemed to be passing on to him. His eyes darted about, looking for what was causing the symbiote such worry, but couldn't see it.

" _Don't bother hiding. They'll have already caught a scent. Just keep moving."_ The symbiote instructed, leaving Garter concerned. What exactly were they running from?

Taking the symbiote's advice, he abandoned caution and broke into a sprint. His darted about in their sockets, searching for even the slightest hint of motion.

He'd ran about fifteen blocks when the symbiote piped up again.

" _Turn left!"_

Garter obeyed and took an immediate left. He could feel the symbiote getting more agitated, both in his head and on his skin. It gave a few more directions, but that did little to sooth it's agitation. In fact, it was becoming more and more stressed by the second. And Garter soon saw why.

He was approaching a section composed entirely of crumbled concrete when his legs suddenly dug in and he skidded to a stop!

" _No good. We're surrounded."_

"What are you talking about? WHO are you talking about?! And why are you suddenly so keen on talking to me?" Garter demanded as he tried to get his legs to listen to him again. However, he soon felt his head jerk up and focus on something. It felt like someone had grabbed his head and was forcing him to look in a specific direction. Then he saw it.

There was a dark shape making its way over the pile of broken concrete. It didn't move like any Ripper he'd seen before. Then there were a few more. Then he got a good look and felt his stomach shrink as his heart began beating like a jackhammer. Symbiotes were emerging from the shadows and slowly crawling towards him. Their massive tongues curling and uncurling in their mouths, lashing at the air in excitement. He counted about half a dozen in front of him. The hissing from behind him indicated plenty more.

"Okay, this is bad. What do we do?" Garter asked in a half-panicked voice. At this point, it was probably better to rely on the symbiote currently attached to him, since it appeared to be in the same boat as him.

" _Fight."_ The symbiote replied as it made Garter shrug his pack off his shoulders. However, Garter didn't move. He kept trying, but the symbiote held him in place.

" _Not yet."_ It muttered in Garter's head. The enemy symbiotes prowled closer and closer. Several of them were kneading the ground with their claws, carving gouges into the concrete. The ones he could see were all within ten meters of him. One of them dropped to all fours and snarled at him before it's legs began bunching up for an incredibly telegraphed pounce.

" _NOW!"_ The symbiote roared in his mind! Just as the symbiote leapt at him, claws outstretched, Garter's arm suddenly shot up! It was immediately wrapped in symbiote goo that fired what looked like some sort of web from the back of his hand that struck the attacker in the face, causing it to screech in surprise as it was blinded! Garter suddenly bent sideways as the symbiote careened past him to the ground. He could feel the symbiote attached to him suddenly burst to life, wrapping around him like a second skin. When the symbiote finally settled, Garter was now clad in a skin-tight black suit with white rectangles on the back of his fists and a large white spider plastered across his chest, with the legs wrapping around to meet an identical symbol.

The other symbiotes hissed in surprise and backed up a short ways, chittering to themselves. What was even more disconcerting being that now Garter could actually understand them. And they were not happy.

" _Mistake…"_

" _Aberration…"_

" _Venom…"_

" _Traitor…"_

" _Venom…"_

" _Flaw…"_

" _Venom…"_

" _Venom."_

" _VENOM!"_

Suddenly, all of the symbiotes surged forward, claws outstretched and maws hanging open. Garter spun and socked the nearest one while his leg outstretched to kick another in the face! He dropped into a rolled and sprang up, catching another in the stomach with his feet, which his feet actually stuck to before he bent and leapt twenty feet into the air! As he did so, he launched two web lines from his hands that snagged two symbiotes, which he promptly yanked into the air, simultaneously dragging himself towards the two of them! His fists reared back as he swung them forward, striking both symbiotes in the head with a resounding _CRACK!_

As soon as he hit the ground, Garter immediately seized a decently sized piece of concrete from the ground and swung it over his head and brought it down on the nearest symbiote, causing the concrete to break and for the symbiote to be slammed to the ground!

As the fight continued, the enemy symbiotes that hadn't been beaten to bloody pulps were starting to get simultaneously more nervous and more reckless. They rarely attacked him now, keeping their distance. However, when they did try to attack, they were incredibly telegraphed and were easy to avoid and counter. Eventually, Garter was left with only one to deal with. It sputtered and hissed with rage, but it clearly knew it was outclassed. It turned to run, only for Garter's symbiote to suddenly take control and catch it with a web line before yanking it back and seizing it by the throat. Garter suddenly realize that he was now standing an easy eight feet tall. Then he realized that his arms were moving, even thought it didn't _feel_ like his arms were moving. His entire hand was lifting the enemy symbiote into the air before his head tilted back and he saw a massive tongue curl out of where his mouth would be, and he realized what was happening.

"Wait, wait, What are y..?!" Garter yelped before the symbiote's jaws snapped shut and relieved the enemy symbiote of its head. Garter's symbiote spat the head out onto the ground before grabbing Garter's pack and leaping through the air to a nearby building, then leaping from it to another one. It kept leaping from building to building, occasionally swinging on a web line before it reached the city's edge, where it suddenly retreated back to being clothing.

"What the rip was that?! You just bit its head off!" Garter shouted.

" _That was to send a message. We should have much less trouble with hunters from now on."_ The symbiote said in a nonchalant manner.

"You're kidding me, right?! You can't just go around using my body to go around EATING PEOPLE'S HEADS!" Garter all but shrieked.

" _I don't see why your so worked up over it. They were trying to kill us not even a few seconds before I killed it. It's not like YOU were the one biting off its head."_ The symbiote responded in an almost annoyed voice. Garter couldn't believe it.

"I can't believe this! What, it this just what you do?! You just suddenly feel like eating heads?!" Garter shot back, nearing hysterics.

" _I… Ye… N… I'm not sure."_ The symbiote replied. Garter didn't buy it. How could it not know if it ate heads on a regular basis?!

" _If it makes you feel any better, it didn't taste good at all."_ Garter's eyes widened. It was making fun of him!

"Great! I've got a body-snatching monster who likes to eat heads attached to me! Oh, and to top it all off, it thinks it has a sense of humor!"

Garter could feel the symbiote mentally rolling its eyes.

" _If you're just about done, we should get moving before the rest of them wake up. I'd prefer to not be around when they discover the body and head."_

"At least we can agree on that…" Garter grumbled as he hefted his pack back onto his shoulders and set off at a run.

"By the way, why were they calling you Venom?"

" _I… don't know. I guess that's something to figure out along the way."_

"Along the way? Where are we going?"

" _That is an excellent question."_

* * *

 **Alright! So, we had a head-munching scene already! Didn't anticipate I'd be doing one so soon, but the brain works in strange and mysterious ways.**

 **Creativity: And the reveal of what's in the attic!**

 **Author: Yeah, I've been excited to tell this part of the story since the idea came to me. Of course, I'm not just gonna reveal the whole thing yet, but I'm sure you can all figure it out.**

 **Creativity: They are a clever lot, aren't they?**

 **Author: Definitely. Now, this chapter was more Garter heavy, so we'll likely have a more Ana heavy chapter coming up next.**


	6. The Reveal

**And here we are at the fifth chapter! I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday! So, this will be the last chapter for a while, since this (As previously mentioned) my 'stress story' as it were. Meaning I write it to decompress from writing other stuff. Or just to decompress in general.**

 **Creativity: Ironically, I almost want to say it's one of our better ones yet.**

 **Author: Well, it helps that we have literally done this story before (Even if we're remaking it from scratch) So, we already learned from mistakes made last time, and we have a clearer picture of where this story will eventually go.**

 **Creativity: Yeah, I suppose that helps. Now then, what about those renos we had scheduled?**

 **Author: Oh, you mean the upgrades? They'll be about done soon. Hence, why we're borrowing someone else's setup. Next, I'll be placing an order for a brand new, custom made, gold-plated THRONE to replace my current Master Chair.**

 **Creativity: Gold plated? Really?**

 **Author: Well, it's a throne, isn't it? Anyway, I think it's time to get to the actual chapter.**

 **Creativity: Questions first... wait, no questions!**

 **Author: No QUESTIONS?!**

 **Right then! Let us begin with Chapter 5 of Venom: Resurgence!**

* * *

To say that Ana had questions was not an understatement. It was THE understatement. And worst of all, she couldn't ask any of these questions without revealing her little excursion into her grandparents' attic!

She'd spent an additional hour after uncovering the spider-man gear, trying to figure out why it was all locked up in her grandparents' attic, but had only come across some more stuff related to Peter Parker and one Mary Jane Watson. Apparently, they had been married before the world fell apart, and obviously they had made it to Safe Haven before the outside world fell apart, judging by the fact that an impressive amount of their belongings were currently collecting dust in the attic, but she hadn't yet figured out why. It was especially infuriating because she felt that the answer was practically staring her in the face!

However, once she'd calmed down a little bit, she started to piece bits and pieces together. Obviously, her grandparents (And by familial connections, her) had some sort of connection to Spider Man. Additionally she was now connected to Spider Man considering she'd somehow just manifested his powers, seemingly over night. Finally, the one person who had consistently demonstrated a strong connection to Spider Man, that being Peter Parker, also had plenty of his old property also collecting dust in her grandparents' attic. Three connections like that showed a pattern. Currently, she had two ideas as to what that end-point of that connection was. The first, was that she was somehow related to Spider Man, as evidenced by the fact that she was suddenly sporting Spider Man's abilities, while the second was that she was related to Peter Parker, who Spider Man had left his belongings to before meeting his end in New York, as evidenced by all of Spider Man's gear in her grandparents' attic, coupled with the number of Peter Parker's belongings also in said attic.

And she couldn't think of any means to figure out which one was the answer. If either.

On the plus side, she had managed to find what looked like a few old blueprints that detailed some of the tech that he had used, and even a schematic for a special suit he'd designed for when the symbiote invasion had begun in full force. She'd used her holo-glass to scan images of all the blueprints she could find and replaced everything before sneaking back into her room around 1 in the morning. She couldn't wait to get home and start going over them. Who knows? With how far technology had advanced, maybe she could make a few improvements!

"Ana, are you there?"

Ana suddenly jolted back to reality, not realizing how much she had spaced out. She turned to her grandmother, who was looking at her curiously.

"I'm fine, grandma. I just fuzzed out for a second." Ana responded. Her grandma peered closer at her.

"You look like you didn't sleep well last night." Her grandmother commented. Ana tried to avoid reacting.

"Really? I fell asleep pretty quickly." Ana responded brightly, hoping that her grandparents bought it. She hated lying to them, but what was she supposed to say? 'Oh, I was just snooping around in the attic last night, using my SPIDER-powers that I discovered during this visit! Say, did you know that there's piles of spider-man stuff in the attic?' that conversation would go fantastic.

Then it struck her. There was nothing to say she couldn't press for more info about Peter Parker! She'd have to be smart about it, or her grandmother would just clam up again, but if she went about it just right, she'd possibly be able to piece together just what sort of connection was between her, Spider-Man and Peter Parker. Solving that triangle of connections would be the crowning achievement of her time spent researching the Age of Heroes!

"Are you sure? You've hardly touched your breakfast, you have bags under your eyes and you keep slipping out of focus." Her grandmother responded, looking slightly concerned. "Are you feeling well?"

"I feel fine, grandma. I guess I'm just still waking up." Ana responded in a more alert tone. She immediately made a point of actually eating her breakfast so as to stop her grandmother from getting closer to the truth of her late-night escapade.

Afterwards, she went back to her bedroom and began looking over some of the blueprints she had scanned. Specifically, for what she guessed was the final version of the web shooters he designed. They were designed for various firing modes, seemingly controlled by various patterns of button press or some other means she hadn't found yet. Apparently, he'd developed a number of more and more technologically impressive suits using a sort of circuit-mesh weave in between two layers of his costume, allowing him to rig up all sorts of extra gadgets into the suit itself.

According to the blueprints she had snagged, the initial version was developed by the Iron Man himself, Tony Stark, but had since been improved by Spider Man. The circuit-mesh weave was something more common now, but mainly for more designer-esq clothing or to add special features to jackets and the like. It just wasn't practical enough for everyday wear to warrant making it standard, though she wouldn't be surprised if there was at least SOME application of it in military technologies.

After a while, she decided to put blueprints away, lest she be discovered, and try pressing her grandmother for more details on Peter Parker. Despite how cagey she had been about it before, Ana was confident she could get her grandmother to divulge enough information for her to do some further research. Fortunately, her grandfather was out of the house for now. She knew that he would be damn near impossible to dig any information out of and he would likely bar her from asking her grandmother.

"Grandma, I know you didn't want to discuss Peter Parker when I asked about it before, but I just can't get it out of my head. Can you please tell me SOMETHING about him?" Ana started. Her grandmother seemed to pause for a second.

"Ana, I told you before. Some topics are just better left alone. Why are you so fixated on him?" Her grandmother responded, with a bit more challenge in her voice than Ana had expected. This could be trickier than she originally thought.

"I just feel like I've come across him somewhere outside of my research and it's been bugging me ever since. It's like an itch I can't scratch." Ana said carefully. It wasn't really lying, either. Her grandmother frowned.

"You are intent on finding out, regardless of me warning you otherwise?" Her grandmother asked in a tone that sent a distinct message: Make absolutely sure you know your answer.

"Yes, I am going to keep looking into it, regardless of whether or not you tell me. Even barring my hobby, this is just bugging me, and I need to figure it out before it drives me completely crazy!" Ana responded, trying to keep her voice from wavering. She suspected that her grandmother would just clam up if she detected any hesitation in her voice. Her grandmother stared at her for a few moments before exhaling.

"Very well. Come to the living room and I'll explain. I was hoping to wait until you were eighteen, but I guess three years is close enough, considering how invested you are in your research."

Her grandmother turned and walked into the living room and took a seat on the couch. Ana sat down next to her and turned to face her grandmother. Ana couldn't tell why, but her grandmother suddenly looked much more tired than before.

"Before I begin, you have to promise me that you well not tell anyone about this, understand? It's only because we've kept all of this secret that our family has lived in peace since we took refuge in this city." Her grandmother began. Ana's eyes widened. Just what kind of secret involving Peter Parker that would jeopardize her family to the degree that her grandmother was suggesting?

"I promise." Ana said carefully. Her grandmother stared back for a few seconds before beginning to explain.

"Over two-and-a-half centuries ago, Peter Parker was a photographer, as well as a scientific prodigy. He made his living for a long while be being the only one capable of capturing credible photos of Spider Man before taking a job at Stark Industries, though the latter isn't really important. What is important was that when the invasion began, he was among the first responders to the threat, and was among the last as well. After ensuring that his family had reached Safe Haven, he spearheaded a battle in New York to keep the invaders occupied as long as he could. Peter Parker died a hero that day. And he is also one of your ancestors."

Ana listened to the whole story, starting to feel almost an electric buzz down her spine as she started to put the pieces together. The story went that Spider-Man fought against legions of symbiotes to distract them from attacking travelers on their way to Safe Haven. She hadn't found any record of anyone other than Spider-Man fighting in New York as a distraction. More and more pieces started clicking together. Peter Parker was a science prodigy and worked at Stark Industries, giving him access to, what would have been for the time, cutting edge technology. One of his later suits was designed and constructed by Tony Stark. Parker was the ONLY person to consistently capture Spider-Man in action, and according to her grandmother, had died in New York on a suicide mission. All these pieces formed a picture that declared one thing loud and clear.

Both her theories were right. Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

* * *

"So, any bright ideas on where to go next?"

" _Don't ask me! Apparently, I'm amnesiac."_

Garter groaned in mild annoyance as he leaned against a tree, resting for a bit. This had been a repeated question for some time now and didn't seem like it would be resolved any time soon. Currently, the only concrete option they had was to keep heading North, which would inevitably lead to encounters with other Travelers. With Garter's new 'passenger', he wasn't keen on accidentally being discovered, which would absolutely ruin his chances of trading with other Travelers or finding refuge at a camp. His passenger argued that even if they were discovered, those issues were irrelevant.

While Garter HEAVILY disagreed, he did acknowledge that with the symbiote, self-defense and going unnoticed would be significantly easier. He still wasn't sure what entirely he was capable of now, and the symbiote wasn't very forthcoming on those details either. Assuming it had them, anyway. So far, all they knew was advanced strength, a danger sense, webbing and wall-crawling. Who knows what else they could do?

Garter was half-tempted to 'suit up' and see what he was capable of now, especially since they were just within the outskirts of a dense forest that would take time to traverse on the ground. Normally, he'd try to avoid forests since Rippers would often stake them out, waiting for a potential meal to wander by. Not that he would be having that kind of trouble anymore. Even still, he wasn't exactly keen on the idea of tromping around the woods, beating Rippers to pulps just because he didn't have to worry about them anymore. That, and he wanted to provide the symbiote with as few opportunities for head-biting as possible.

Despite his misgivings, they agreed to cut through the forest to Garter's original destination. There was a rally point for Travelers around this time of year that was located near a large lake, and Garter wanted to get there as soon as possible to see if he could find any new gear. Besides, he needed to restock in preserving supplies and offload some of his excess equipment. Some of that equipment would be worth a fair bit, meaning he'd be much more well off than his previous year.

Deciding to chance it, he allowed the symbiote to wrap around him in that strange second skin and began to swing through the trees. The feeling was exhilarating! The weightless feeling when he started to plummet was almost addicting! Even better, he was moving many times faster than he had on foot. At this pace, Garter guessed that he'd reach the other side of the forest by day's end!

Assuming everything went without incident. Garter knew better than to just assume that he'd get all the way to the other side without some sort of interruption along the way.

" _You seem unusually paranoid, even for a human."_ The symbiote suddenly commented. Garter raised an eyebrow under the mask.

"Is there any reason your bringing this up, or…" Garter responded. He was curious as to why the symbiote was suddenly taking interest in his behavior.

" _Well, considering you're keeping locked out of a few sections of your mind, which is something most humans can't do, my curiosity was piqued."_ The symbiote replied. This gave Garter pause.

"Are you fishing around in my brain for something?" He questioned bluntly.

" _Well, considering how close we've gotten, I didn't exactly see the harm in it. I really looking for anything to be honest. When a symbiote bonds to a host, our minds become linked in a way that causes us to just… find the stuff. So, I was confused as to how and why I'm blocked from specific areas."_ The symbiote informed him. Garter considered this new information for a minute or two before responding.

"Well, as far as I know, I'm not trying to block you. Do you know where you're trying to look? Maybe there's just some places you can't go?" Garter suggested.

" _Possibly, though highly unlikely."_ The symbiote refuted. Then Garter noticed something.

"How do you know all this stuff? I thought you were amnesiac."

" _If you lost your memories, would you forget how to walk and/or talk?"_ the symbiote responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Garter could sort of see the logic. Perhaps this was just stuff that symbiotes instinctively 'knew'. Either way, this conversation was providing no answers, so the two of them fell into silence. As the day began to give way to the twilight, Garter was nearing the forest borders. Surprisingly, things had gone remarkably without incident so far. Which made it all the more frustrating when Garter happened across a pack of Rippers who were hiding in the brush, just out of sight for anyone who might be outside the forest looking in. To make matters worse, Garter could see a loose band of Travelers up ahead, who would no doubt be attacked once they were close enough to the forest for the Rippers to ambush them.

" _Well, are we going to do something about it or not?"_ the symbiote asked. Garter grumbled under his breath as he webbed his pack to the tree he was currently perched on and began creeping closer and closer to the ambush, not daring to make even the slightest noise. Soon he was perched in a tree just a few feet behind the Rippers. He waited a few more moments to make sure he hadn't been spotted, then threw out his arms, casting two web-lines onto the backs of two of the Rippers, who he promptly knocked unconscious and encased in cocoons. Unfortunately, the rest of the Rippers noticed when two of their ambush party were suddenly from the ground and into the branches and proceeded to start shouting and sputtering in surprise and outrage before Garter descended upon them, upon which they began shrieking in fear before turning to run. Garter briefly considered pursuing them but decided against it. They'd likely spread the word the there was a symbiote in the forest and that would definitely prevent other Rippers from trying to use this section of forest as an ambush site.

" _Well, that was fun! Now then, shall we continue to that camp you had as a destination?"_ The symbiote suggested, the tone of voice it used sounded like it had indeed enjoyed the brief 'scuffle' with the Rippers.

"Yeah. Let me just grab my gear and we can get going." Garter replied before leaping back into the trees to retrieve his pack. Then he waited for the Travelers to pass by and all but vanish into the distance before he made his way to the road and continued on his way. Maybe having an alien blob stuck to him wouldn't be so bad after all.

" _I resent being called that!"_

* * *

 _Meanwhile, deep underground beneath Safe Haven…_

"And you're certain this new technology is going to work?"

"Yes sir. We've tested it thoroughly and it operates as intended."

"And the mission is a must if we are to complete this project?"

"Without question, sir. We need to undertake this salvage run if we are to complete not just this project, but a multitude of projects. This salvage run could be a 'make or break' for us."

"Alright then. I'll see to it a team is prepped for the mission. This had better work, or it's your head."

"I…I'll remember that, sir."

* * *

 **Ah, man this feels good to be uploading! And as an extra bonus, A Very Bad Idea resumes this Sunday! Man, this week is gonna be Christmas for anyone who follows all my work! So, if anyone has any suggestions, questions or ideas for the story, write a review or shoot me a PM!**

 **Creativity: Now, shall we get into the usual musings?**

 **Author: Sure! It kinda feels more like this is Ana's story this time, rather than Garter's. I tried to keep things balanced between them last time (roughly) and when I started work on this, I originally thought that was how I would do it for this version as well. However, that isn't the case this time, if only be chance.**

 **Anyway, so I decided that I was going to make Ana a direct descendant of the original Spider Man. Now, you may be asking why she didn't have spider powers until after the symbiote bonded to her. Your answer for that is for the same reason there hasn't been any other Spider people swinging around Safe Haven (Aside from the obvious). Because they just haven't been manifesting the powers, even though they had the genetic potential for them. Hence, the symbiote acts as a sort of catalyst for the powers.**

 **Creativity: Sounds plausible enough to me!**

 **Author: There is nothing Scientifically plausible about Spider Man but nitpicking that ruins the fun for everyone.**

 **So yeah! Aside from that Garter's going to go** _ **relatively**_ **unchanged, at least for now. Not completely, but he's probably going to be mostly the same character that he started as for a while. I haven't exactly thought of a suitable arc for him, hence why this is more Ana's story. I actually do have an arc (or at least the outline of one) for her.**

 **Well, I think that's enough jibber jabber! See you next time!**


	7. BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

**GREETINGS ALL!**

 **Author: So, you may be wondering why I'm uploading this AN today. And the reason for that is, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! And to celebrate my birthday, I'm putting up a sampling of a few stories I've been working on for a while. To be specific, one of the stories I upload will be the story that becomes my primary focus after the conclusion of A Very Bad Idea.**

 **Creativity: And YOU get to decide which one it is!**

 **Author: That's right! I will be posting a poll time as the samplings go live so you can all provide me with direct feedback regarding which story you want to see more of first! Also note that these samplings are not the finalized versions of the story (Some of them began three years ago, when I was just getting the hang of writing a decent story, thus they aren't quite up to standard), and can be revised and streamlined by reader input, so TELL ME AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ABOUT THEM! It'll mean the making of a better story!**

 **The following stories are what you can choose from:**

 **Kingdom Hearts: Beyond Time**

 **A story that details the very origins of the Realm of Darkness, the Heart of All Worlds and its counterpart: The X-blade itself.**

 **Ragnarok:**

 **A HTTYD/Flash and Thor(sorta) crossover, detailing the end of the nine realms and how Berk and its allies survived and went on to thrive.**

 **Star Wars: Twilight Blade**

 **A remake of my first/only Star Wars story (set adjacent to the Rebels TV show), now with a much more polished vision in mind. Follow as a Jedi Padawan is set on a path to rediscover an ancient Force order and become the latest to take up a mantle first held by the creator of first Force-imbued weapon.**

 **Author: Have a read of the samplings and let me know which one you want to see first. Personally, my money's on Kingdom Hearts, what with Star Wars currently sitting in scalding hot water and Ragnarok being so crazy and out there.**


	8. Discord Announcement

**Good afternoon, everyone! So, I've gotten quite a bit of feedback through reviews and private messages that a Discord server is a really good idea.**

…

 **So that's what we're doing! The current address is /cVpZbbb. I hope to see you there!**

 **Creativity: ooh, maybe I should set up an account! Then you can all praise me for all the hard work you do.**

 **Author: Careful. You don't want your head to hit the doorframe on your way out.**

 **Anyway, hope to see you in chat!**


	9. Clarification

**Hello, sorry this isn't an upload for anything, but I felt I needed to get this out there, because apparently this needs explaining. I don't know why, but it does.**

 **So, the Discord thing. I'm not moving my stories to Discord, nor was that EVER my intent. That would be fundamentally stupid, and while I am weird and crazy (certified), I am not stupid.**

 **The server is for you, the readers, to talk to other readers and me with much more ease than on .**

 **Again, I don't understand how this confusion arose, but it did. So, I'm clarifying it here. Are we good? Okay then.**


	10. The origin story begins

**Well, here we are with the first chapter of the second set.**

 **Creativity: And things are off to a good start, last we checked!**

 **Author: Yeah, no kidding. As for the readers, thank you for all the positive reception for the opening salvo! We're approaching exam season so writing on all fronts is gonna slow down a bit, but not stop. At this point, we've started publishing new chapters of A Very Bed Idea again, which will continue up to Christmas, at which point there'll be a short break. I've started working on the latter half of season three for the aforementioned story, so I won't be caught with an incomplete backlog.**

 **Creativity: Yeah, that sucked last time it happened.**

 **Author: But it won't happen again!**

 **Side note: That movie that Ana was watching in chapter 3 was actually the origin story for a Hasbro toy that Marvel was commissioned to write a comic book for, that was tied into the comics universe! No joke. The story is Rom: Spaceknight. Seriously, this is a thing that exists. And I almost want Marvel to get the movie rights for it just to see if they're crazy enough to make a movie or SOMETHING out of it. Plus, I'm sure Hasbro would be eager to make an additional penny from all that sweet, sweet merchandise.**

 **As for this story, right now I'm estimating that I'll be publishing the next wave around Christmas time, so we'll all get to see how close I was! Won't that be fun?**

 **Well, onto the questions**

 **JoeClone: Not quite the original name, but you're right about him not being to different from the original, at least in the broad strokes.**

 **DarkJokes: I kinda have to disagree on the Ana part, but I'll be going into detail on that later. as for Garter, I got plans for that. Oh man, do I have plans.**

 **TheCrankyWriter: Why thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story.**

 **Well, I think that's enough questions for now. Let us now present chapter 6 of Venom: Resurgence!**

* * *

The last week or so had been a whirlwind for Ana. Actually, that was putting it mildly. It was a hurricane of unmatched proportions. In the space of one week, she'd mysteriously developed the powers of Spider Man practically to the letter, learned that her grandparents had a stash of Spider Man's costumes and gadgets in their attic, AND been told by her grandmother that she was a direct descended of the original Spider Man. To say that the rest of the week had been a bit of a blur would be entirely accurate.

It showed to. Her concentration in class was lapsing even more than usual, her homework assignments were being completed a bit sloppily and what few friends she did had were noting that she seemed "not all there" at times. It had even gotten to the point where a teacher asked her if something was wrong at home. She'd just brushed it off as just having an off week, but she had a sneaking suspicion that her teacher wasn't exactly buying it. She tried putting more time to her school work, but the revelation of her heritage just refused to budge from her brain! It was becoming maddening!

At the moment, she was riding the monorail home. She had her headphones on, but with her thoughts in such disarray she could barely hear it. As she stepped out of the train and onto the platform, her thoughts turned back to the schematics she had for the suit and gadgets. She hadn't gone over them at all since she had returned from her grandparents, but they were still floating around in the back of her head.

Of course, she had been testing out her powers at home, within reason. She didn't wander around on the ceiling of her home, alone or not. She stuck to her room, hanging from the ceiling to see how long she could (The answer was close to an hour before she felt the strain. She was bored by that point anyway) as well as seeing just how strong she was. She didn't want to go down to a gym since people would get suspicious of she was seen lifting weights that most gym veterans struggled with, so she tested by lifting her bed from the ground with almost no difficulty, even with one hand!

During gym class, she was careful not to be found out. She only used enough strength to make it look normal, though sometimes she put in that little bit extra to make it look like she was improving. Dodgeball however, was a different story. It was really hard to ignore her new spider sense, which kept going off like an alarm bell any time a ball was thrown at her, compelling her to dodge. This was especially irritating since it would look weird if she suddenly ducked and bent away from the ball when she couldn't even see it coming. So, every time she felt that buzzing sensation, she had to force herself to stay still and let the ball hit, even if it was a pain in multiple ways to do so.

As Ana got closer and closer to her home, her spider senses began to tingle. She paused. What could be setting it off?

The answer came not too long after, when she heard a yelp from a nearby alleyway. She looked to see a couple of teenagers being ganged up on by a group of three unsavory individuals, one of which was armed with a knife.

"Come now, just empty your pockets and we'll be on our way." The one with the knife grunted with a lopsided grin on his face as he waved the knife around. The younger teens eyes never left the glinting blade. Ana frowned as she reached for her holo-glass, but then had a second thought. She removed her headphones and rolled her shoulders before stepping into the alleyway, pulling her hood over her head. She wished she had a scarf, but the hood would have to do for now.

"You know, you could just leave them alone and save all of us the trouble." She called out, deliberately lowering her voice. She knew it sounded silly, but she didn't want to use her normal voice. The goons all turned to look at her.

"Well, look here, boys! We're gonna get a triple score!" The leader announced as he grinned, waving the knife around carelessly. Ana rolled her eyes and stood her ground. As the goons advanced on her, cracking their knuckles, she let instinct take over.

The first goon lunged forward, which she responded to be leaning sideways and tripping him before turning to the second, who threw a wild punch at her. She knocked it aside with her right left arm before socking him right in the eye! She held back enough to keep from launching him into the wall, but she definitely left him with a black eye at bare minimum.

The goon she tripped stood up and shook himself off, confused by what had happened. When he pieced it together, he rounded on her and snarled.

"Tricky little…" He started as he lunged again, only for Ana to drop down and lift him completely over her head and toss him into a nearby dumpster!

"Care to finish that sentence now?" She asked sardonically. The leader snarled as he realized that both his goons had been taken down in a few moments by one little girl. He snarled and swung his knife at her! Ana stepped out of the blade's path a few times before punching him square in the jaw! The man reeled back, rubbing it before swinging again! This time, Ana stepped sideways and swung her leg around, knocking the wind out of him and bringing him to his knees! She then delivered a left kick to the forehead, knocking him unconscious!

The teens who had been in the process of being robbed looked at her in awe before unfreezing. Ana looked at them under her hood and felt a moment of panic.

"Please don't tell anyone about this? Please?" She begged. They just nodded numbly before running out of the alley. Ana quickly hurried off as well, not wanting to be discovered.

She rushed back to the condo and quickly locked the door to their home before she began to fully process what she had done. She'd gone and stopped a mugging. That was textbook Spider Man! And now that she thought about it, it felt good. Really good.

She went to her room and began pacing on the ceiling as she continued thinking about her small moment of being Spider Man. Now that she'd gone and done it once, she wanted to do it again. She was a descendant of the original Spider Man, wasn't she?

The more she thought about it, the more appealing the idea sounded. However, if she was going to do this, she was going to do it right. Ana hurried up to her room and opened the files containing the blueprints for Spider Man's webshooters and other gadgets. After sending them to her desktop holo-glass and printing them out, she began looking them over, considering what she could do to bring them more up-to-date. After all, what was Spider Woman without the expected gadgets?

* * *

" _So, remind me again why you want to visit that trade camp again?"_

"I told you, to replenish supplies for preserving food and other resources. Why am I even bothering explaining this to you? You can read my mind, right?"

This sort of back and forth had been happening for a while now. Garter suspected that the symbiote was continuously bugging out of boredom more than anything else, but that made it no less irritating. What was more frustrating was that he could tell that the symbiote knew it as well. Unfortunately, that seemed to only further egg it on, considering it had been pestering him with questions that he knew it could find in his head with relative ease.

They were currently travelling along a trail worn through a lightly wooded area. The trees were just dense enough to provide decent shade yet were sparse enough to allow a fair bit of natural light to filter through the leaves. This stretch had been going for some time, without any indication of how close he was to the trade camp. He knew he wasn't too far, and they'd seen a few campsites that had used a while ago, based on the lack of smoke.

" _Well, I figured it would be less uncomfortable for you if I asked instead."_ the symbiote snarked, distracting Garter again. He was starting to get a little bit more than frustrated.

"Why not talk about you, instead? Considering we'll be sticking together for a while, I might as well learn more about you." Garter jabbed back.

" _Oh, hah hah. Mock the amnesiac symbiote. You realize that if I was sufficiently motivated, I could make you punch yourself in the face, right?"_ The symbiote threatened. Garter rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure. In all seriousness, can you tell me anything about other symbiotes? Perhaps any form of inkling as to why they want to murder you and, by extension, me?" Grey asked pointedly.

" _Again, not really sure. All I remember is escaping from one of the hives with no memory of who I am. I couldn't really even form coherent thoughts until a little while after I bonded with you. Anyway, after I escaped I made my way towards the nearest city, I could find, avoiding other symbiotes until found you. You know the rest."_

Garter frowned. The amnesia was just too convenient. If it wasn't for the fact that he could feel the symbiote in his head, he'd be convinced it was hiding something. Still, there was stuff that wasn't adding up. Chiefly, why was the symbiote currently attached to him was apparently being gunned for by every other member of its species in the first place. If he wasn't so preoccupied with getting to the trading camp, he'd consider trying to figure out what was going on.

However, any potential plans of investigation died when he saw a decent-sized column of smoke in the distance. He was close.

Garter broke into a hard jog along the path. It was only about five minutes later when the camp came into view. There was a massive bonfire in the middle of the camp while the rest of the camp had organized into a rather neat circle. The Travelers that knew trade skills were closer to the ring and had large blankets laid out on the ground to display their merchandise. Around them were everyone else who had come to exchange supplies, information and socialize so as not to go completely insane from survival by way of isolation. Additionally, the Travelers were searching for a new safe point since the trade camp was too exposed to be maintained for much longer than a couple of weeks.

Garter swiftly made his way to the camp, scoping it out as well as looking for a good spot to set up for the night. He didn't want to stick around too long. It wasn't uncommon for sightings of symbiotes, hosted or otherwise, to start showing up in the general area after a while. Garter could already tell that the trade camp had been up for a few days, thus it wouldn't be long before there was an uptake, however slight, in symbiote activity. If the symbiotes could track the symbiote attached to him, that would only draw even more of them to the camp, and that could only end in disaster.

" _Just how rare are these supplies anyway? Couldn't you get what you need and get out by tonight?"_ The symbiote asked. Garter rolled his eyes.

" _Yes, I'm sure that me showing up and leaving the EXACT day I show up wouldn't look suspicious at all. I need to stay at least one night, maybe two if I can't find everything I need today. Relax, it's not as if I'm planning on pitching myself into the bonfire. Even if I was, you'd stop me."_ Garter answered back in his head. If people saw him talking to his symbiote, they'd think he was crazy. Considering he'd been responding aloud to it since it started speaking to him, it was a bit of adjustment.

As Garter continued to case the camp, he noticed a dark discoloration in some of the grass. As he got closer to it, he noticed a strange smell in the air. As he reached the discoloration, he bent down and got a closer look at it. It was a dark colored liquid. As he touched it, he found it was incredibly slick. After a moment longer, he figured it out.

"They've rigged up a ring of fire." Garter muttered. He felt the symbiote tighten on his skin.

" _Okay then, can you make this trip quick? I do NOT like the idea of spending an entire night in a place set to combust at the slightest spark!"_ The symbiote started pleading, only for Garter to shut it down.

" _Look, I need to get those supplies, it's already late as it is, and I don't want to draw unnecessary attention to myself. I doubt they'll use the ring unless another symbiote comes charging out of the woods, screaming bloody murder. Rippers don't come here since there's usually more than a few snares or booby traps laid out to deter them, and they wouldn't waste the ring of fire on a few Rippers. Just keep calm during this venture, and I'll be able to keep calm, gather the supplies we need, and be out of here without incident."_ Garter assured as he made his way away from the ring. Soon enough, he found a decent spot and set out his bedroll before pinning it down with a few twigs. Afterwards, he started heading towards the middle of the camp, searching for someone who traded in preserving goods. Unfortunately, it seemed he wasn't the only one with a need for those goods since many of the vendors were running low on stock. Eventually, he found what he was looking for, but was only able to scrounge a small pouch of the materials. It wasn't enough, but it was something. As he spoke to a few of the traders, he learned that there was actually a small party on their way. It was rare to have a group of travelers larger than two or three that were on the move together, but it wasn't unheard of. Garter had considered trying to find someone to travel with but dismissed the idea rather quickly. For one, he liked to travel fast. Plus, he also had this unlucky streak of running into trouble. Trouble that he didn't want to get anyone else wrapped up in.

After doing a bit of browsing, looking for any preserved foods to offset his lacking resources, eventually finding several strips of venison for trade. He traded away a pair of metal knives for the meat and made his way back to his bedroll. Once there, he pulled out a camouflaged, waterproof cloth that he propped up on a few sharp, straight sticks before rummaging around for some small stones to make a campfire. After using his knife to clear away any grass that could catch fire, he dug a small pit and arranged the stones around it before arranging some wood around some dry grass he had cut and started a fire. After waiting for it to burn down a bit, he began cooking the venison while gnawing on a few greens he'd chanced upon on the way to the camp.

It wasn't long before he had the venison cooked to perfection and he eagerly dug into the hot food. As he settled back with a full stomach, he let the embers in the fire flicker ever darker as he looked up at the sky. He could pick out a few constellations before he started to feel a bit drowsy. He slipped into his tent after dousing the fire and pulled his one blanket over himself.

" _Well, I guess I can relax a little bit, considering we're not dead."_ The symbiote muttered as Garter rolled onto his left.

" _Just be quiet and let me sleep, please. You being antsy just keeps me on edge."_ Garter groaned back. Thankfully, the symbiote actually listened to him and let him drift off to sleep.

* * *

Never before had Ana been so glad to have opted for a workshop class as an elective. She was currently seated in a corner of the classroom, working on a working model of her redesigned webshooters. They were a little bulky, but that was just because she didn't have the luxury of affording slimmer and streamlined parts. Even still, this version was a good improvement over the last iteration. She'd designed the webshooters with five different modes of fire, improved the reload system, and designed new cartridges for the webbing with more storage space.

And on top of all that, she had rigged up a modular system that would allow her to add little bits and pieces for more specialized equipment.

She'd been working on the redesign for four days, since she wanted to make sure she wasn't removing anything too critical to the system's operation. Once she had ascertained that her design wasn't missing anything that would prevent it from blowing up, she'd gotten to work on the working model. This had taken her the better part of two free periods, since she didn't want to get caught working on it, since it could possibly throw up some red flags.

As she finished the last connection and screwed it shut, she looked down at it. It was complete.

All she had left to do was to test it.

She grabbed a large piece of scrap metal for a target and aimed the webshooter at the target. She then reached over and tapped the trigger button on the webshooter, which was sit to standard mode of fire. Much to her delight, and relief, it shot a single strand of webbing straight into the scrap metal. Ana fought every impulse to leap in the air and whoop. Instead, she grabbed a bottle of a special solution that was designed to dissolve the webbing. She'd been lucky enough to snag the formula in conjunction with the webbing formula. She had made some just in case there were any mishaps while testing, especially since she was doing it in the school's workshop.

After making sure the webbing was dissolved, she gathered up all the parts she needed to finish the device at home. She'd made the shell for both webshooters but opted to leave the important mechanisms for last for the purposes of testing. She would have tried to finish it during this free period, but she didn't think she'd be able to wrap it up before class started, and she didn't want the parts to wind up a mess on the way home. After making sure everything was stowed away securely, she started making her way to her final class of the day. Chemistry, to be precise. Thankfully, they just had a short lecture and lab experiment to do and they would be on their way home.

Once she reached the classroom, she dropped into her seat and pulled everything she'd need for class that day. As she was opening her notebook to an empty page, one of her friends dropped into the seat next to her; a girl by the name of Mira Nieves. Mira was Ana's age and had fair skin with brown hair and gray eyes.

Mira was incredibly enthusiastic about technology and had been for a very long time. When she wasn't in class, she'd be tinkering with little trinkets she designed or had gotten schematics for and was trying to improve. Even when she wasn't doing that, she was reading articles about new advances in tech, no matter what kind, and studying every corner of whatever form of tech had her interest. The moment that Ana started thinking about creating her own suit to become the next Spider hero, she'd immediately had the thought to go to Mira, who would probably go ballistic with the number of upgrades and modifications she could create for the webshooters, not to mention the suit as a whole. However, she wasn't quite sure how to approach her friend on the subject without giving away too much information. If she did start moonlighting as a spider-themed costumed crime-fighter, it would be pretty obvious to Mira that it was Ana, simply by recognized some of the tech from Mira working on it.

"I am so ready for the day to end." Mira groaned as she dropped into her seat and removed her pencil and paper from her bag.

"Just this class and then it's over." Ana responded before she remembered that Mira had done a massive amount of research on circuit-weave mesh a few months ago.

"Say, do you have any reading recommendations for circuit-weave mesh?" Ana asked offhandedly. Mira immediately lit up.

"I can think of a few! I'll send you the links later. What's the sudden interest?" Mira asked excitedly. Ana's mind raced to find a plausible response.

"Oh, just a few ideas I had kicking around. I was wondering about a few of the specifics and how to design around it, plus if it's possible for a high-school student to get her hands on some." Ana responded lightly. Mira looked even more excited.

"Well, let me know if you come up with something good!" Mira insisted before the teacher walked in for the class.

"Alright, settle down! I'll get the lecture over with quickly, so we can get to the lab work. Now…"

* * *

 **Alright, good start this time! Gotta say, I'm loving how the five-chapter thing lets me do mini-arcs on a theme. Last set was just basic introductions, this one is so far getting into the 'super-hero groove' if you will.**

 **Creativity: Man, it really did take us a while to get this set finished. I mean, we had this whole end-bit written out that's completely irrelevant now!**

 **Author: Yeah, this was all written before I had put out that poll for the next story I'd work on. Now the poll has come and gone, and we're in the midst of hammering out the story for the winner.**

 **Well, not much to talk about. See ya tomorrow!**


	11. On the Hunt

**Happy Tuesday, everyone! So, as I'm writing this, it is December 2** **nd** **, just as a timestamp. I suspect that this wave of chapters will be out around Christmas week so again, we'll see how right I was!**

 **Creativity: Because your last guess was on the ball. I think you were two weeks late.**

 **Author: Don't be a pessimist. Anyway, as you all might have guessed, this set of chapters is focused more on Ana's first steps in becoming the next Spider hero. As for what Garter's doing, well… It more or less comes back to some stuff in the original. You'll see. Now, on to reviews:**

 **Joeclone: Like I said via PM, I'll be going into more detail on what's going on in Venom's mind later.**

 **And that's all for reviews!**

 **Anyway, Ima cut this short because you all want to read the story, and I need to get back to studying for exams! Without further ado, here's chapter 7 of Venom: Resurgence!**

* * *

Ana couldn't help but grin as she hurried to an old crumbling warehouse. It was scheduled for demolition to clear space, but it was still structurally sound. She'd finished assembling the webshooters and had put together a pair of gloves that were made to allow her to keep clinging to walls or floors. She'd also brought an extra bottle of the web-dissolving agent after a little… incident when she was finishing the webshooters at home and the firing mechanism went off by accident. Thankfully, she'd managed to dispose of all the webbing before her parents came home. That would have been really difficult to explain.

Still, now that she'd fine-tuned her current design, it was time to take them for a test run. She pulled the gloves on and snapped the webshooters onto her wrists before checking the trigger by firing a web ball into one of the support beams. Spurred on by her success, she leapt into the air and fired a line onto the ceiling and swinging over a pile of rusting machinery and barrels before releasing it and firing another line. Every pendulum-esq swing gave her a rush, followed immediately by the rush of weightlessness when she released a line before firing another one.

Ana had to constantly resist the urge to whoop with delight from the thrill of swinging around on weblines. She could only imagine what it would be like to actually swinging through the city. As soon as she had a working costume, she was definitely going to go out on a joyride. She'd done a fair bit of research on where she could acquire some more circuit-weave mesh and a few other bits and pieces for her costume and had found a relatively cheap but durable version of the mesh, since she'd acquired some for testing and familiarizing herself with its intricacies. She managed to pin down an address and was going to go pick some up tomorrow, so she could finish work on the costume. In the meantime, she'd picked up the sleeve-material that went over the mesh to conceal and protect the circuitry beneath. Plus, provided she could figure out a few little tricks, she could make the webshooters just another part of the costume! But that would have to wait. For now, they'd simply attached as they were to her wrists.

After half an hour of practice, she decided to head home so she could get some work in on her costume. All she wanted right now was something that could cover her face and not get in the way of swinging through the city. She could work out the completed costume later.

One thing that somewhat surprised her was how easy it was to pick up web swinging. She thought there was going to be more of a learning curve for learning how to swing, but it came to her much more naturally than she initially thought. Maybe she was just born for this!

Once she got home, she grabbed the new mask she had managed to whip up. It was reminiscent of the traditional Spider Man mask, except it didn't cover her hair. She'd managed to replicate the technology in the lenses from the suit designed by Tony Stark, though it had been a bit… finicky so far when it came to programming the lenses to shrink and grow in response to her own eyes. As it was, she was having trouble striking that right level of sensitivity with the lenses. So far, they'd only been too responsive or not enough. Additionally, she'd made a utility belt of sorts for the purpose of storing spare web cartridges and other gadgets she would start working on once she had the essentials down.

After plugging the mask into the computer, she began tweaking the program a bit more until she managed to finally hit that sweet spot. Afterwards, she grabbed a skin-tight long-sleeve shirt she'd made with the circuit-weave mesh and attached the webshooters to it before opening the interface on her computer. She'd structured a simple HUD for the mask and was currently synchronizing it with the webshooters, allowing her to see what mode of fire was selected, how much web fluid and cartridges were left and possible malfunctions and damage that the webshooters suffered. After making sure everything was set up correctly and the right pathways through the mesh were established, she pulled the shirt on and attached the webshooters before pulling on the mask.

"Alright, first full system test. Let's start with cartridge status." Ana muttered to herself, her voice muffled through the mask. That gave her the thought of maybe adding a voice modulator to the mask, but that would have to wait. For now, she removed a few cartridges from each webshooter, causing the HUD to display the same number of cartridges were missing. Then she swapped in an empty cartridge on each which registered as in place, but empty. After that, she added a cartridge that had been partially spent by her practice session earlier that day, which registered as partially full. Satisfied with the cartridge test, she cycled through the modes of fire, which registered as changing through the specified modes, as indicated by the small images she had made to indicate different modes of fire. Spurred on by her success, she did a final check of the programming as well as a few more in-depth tests before packing everything into a box and hiding it under her bed, but not before refilling the web cartridges. She intended to make tomorrow night the first day her new gear was ready by going on a 'maiden voyage'. Right now, her costume consisted of the mask, shirt and gloves and skin-tight leggings, but they weren't really a proper 'costume' yet. Except for the mask, which she had colored blue (She was still working out if and how she wanted to lay the web pattern on it) they were just the default gray of the thin, waterproof covering for the circuit-weave mesh. To make the costume a little bit more exciting, she bought a thin blue jacket with a hood and painted a black spider logo across the front of it. Hopefully she'd be able to complete her 'official' costume soon enough, but this would do for now.

Soon the all new Spider-Woman would be making her debut.

* * *

Garter let out a contented sigh as he walked back to his camp-site. Today had been a VERY successful day of trading. He'd traded away his grappling hook for a large amount of food preservation supplies, exchanged a small amount of those supplies for more rations, a fishing net and picked up a new set of clothes to replace is increasingly ratty, tattered set. Plus, there were only so many times that the bloodstains could be washed out.

Now he was going to go to a nearby stream to see if he could get his hands on some fish for his lunch and/or dinner, as well as a possible trading item. The last couple of years he'd been here, he'd been able to catch some decent sized carp in the stream, and a few crayfish when the sun was going down. Not that he ever got enough crayfish to trade or make a proper meal out of. He'd need a really big net to carry that many. But enough to add a small bit of variation to his diet. Salt-dried meat, flat bread and whatever greens he could scrounge could only be prepared in so many ways before you got tired of them.

Settling down at the water's edge, he suddenly had an idea. After making sure that there was no one around, he started to draw on his symbiote-granted abilities. His senses sharpened to the point where he could pick out the fish. After making sure his net was laid out, he reared his hand back and lunged forward, grabbing the fish with his bare hands! He yanked it out of the water and deposited it in the net before going for yet another. Half an hour later, he had a net stuffed with fifteen to twenty fish! He had moved up and down the stream a few times, as well as waded out to catch them, but he was overall really satisfied with the results, soggy clothes aside.

Once he had the fish cleaned out and preserved, they would definitely make for some good trade the next day, so he set about putting his new supplies to good use. He gutted and filleted the fish before preserving what he intended to sell, then set about preparing his midday meal of fresh fish and a few greens he had in his pack. After getting everything prepared and leaving it over the fire to cook, he took a look around. The sky was turning gray, which would lead to a few cooler days, but that wasn't anything he wasn't prepared for. He'd be more concerned if there was a storm coming, though that wasn't outside the realm of possibility. Despite the dreary skies, it was feeling pretty warm. Hopefully it would just pass them by, assuming there was one.

After smelling that the food was done, Garter immediately began eating. Ever since the symbiote had attached to him, he'd had a boost in metabolism, which somewhat irked him. He'd spent most of his life on a strict meal schedule designed for his lifestyle, but the presence of his passenger had thrown that into disarray. Now he was stuck trying to rebalance his diet to account for availability of food, minimum distance he needed to cover in a day, and how much he needed per meal, and this entire process could take months for him to figure out again.

Well, at least he didn't have to worry about food supply for a little while. With the abundance of fish in the stream and his newfound skill at catching them barehanded, he could probably get some real good trading if he could find more fish in that stream. He'd probably have to change locations since he'd cleared out most of the fish in that area.

On second thought, maybe he shouldn't go back and do more fishing. He wanted to use that river in future, after all.

As the day wore on, he conversed with other Travelers, did a bit more trading and eventually came to the end of the day. The sun was dipping low in the sky and he could feel his stomach grumbling. He was suddenly glad he'd preserved the bulk of the fish he'd caught. He'd traded some of it away, but the rest he'd kept for reserves, and for if better trade items arrived.

After preparing yet more fish for dinner, he took a short vigil, using his symbiote enhanced senses, plus a few new ones to make sure that there was no danger. So far, it seemed they were in the clear. After settling down under his shelter, he let himself drift off to sleep.

* * *

 _A few hours later…_

" _WAKE UP! TROUBLE!"_

Garter's eyes snapped open and he rolled out of the shelter and to his feet. He could hear shrieking and shouting, the occasional twang of bowstrings and the whipping sound of slings. The shrieking was characteristic of Rippers.

"Damn it all…" He resisted the urge to shout as he grabbed his knife and charged into the fray!

" _Um, don't you think I should help?! I think enhanced strength, reflexes and webs would be helpful right about now!"_ The symbiote exclaimed in his head.

" _If we reveal ourselves, they'll ignite the rings of fire, which I don't think I need to remind you is a very bad thing! Just watch my back and keep an eye out for anyone who might want to put a knife in it!"_ Garter responded as he dragged his knife across the body of a Ripper before ducking under a different Ripper before kicking them in the stomach! He whirled around and started frantically looking around. Luckily, the other Travelers were holding their nerve and the line. Likely, they were surrounded, and this initial rush was meant to spook them into running into the waiting arms and knives of the other Rippers that were hiding behind the treeline. They may have been incredibly savage, but they were still cunning. Unfortunately for the Rippers, Travelers were smart too, and this trick wasn't a particularly new one. As long as they could hold the line until the Rippers gave up, and provided that nothing worse showed up, they'd make it through the night with minimal casualties. The fact that they had ranged weaponry meant that the Travelers held an immense advantage.

Unfortunately, something worse did happen, though not what Garter was expecting.

A blinding light suddenly pierced the night, causing everyone to suddenly cover their eyes. The Rippers all shrieked before turning tail and bolting back into the woods. As Garter's eyes adjusted, he could make out what looked to be a giant floating box with wings that appeared to be the light source. The box lowered to the ground and swung open, allowing roughly a dozen people wearing impractically bulky clothing to jump to the ground! In their hands were long, metal slabs which they started pointing at the Travelers! Immediately, the slabs flashed, and several Travelers dropped to the ground!

" _Not good! Very not good! We gotta go! Forget your supplies, we can come back for them! We gotta get outta here!"_ the symbiote shouted in a panicked tone! As Garter turned to bolt however, their escape was cut off when one of the Travelers ignited the rings of fire in an effort to discourage these strange people from continuing their attack! Unfortunately, Garter was standing rather close to one of those rings when the fire suddenly erupted into existence, causing him to leap back in shock and pain as the sudden flash caused the symbiote to violently recoil! Which had the unfortunate consequence of revealing to absolutely everyone present that there was a symbiote among them.

All hell broke loose. The strangers started aiming their weapons at him and every Traveler started running as far away from him as they could! Thankfully,the symbiote shielded him from the strangers' weapons, leaving the projectiles they apparently launched falling to the ground harmlessly. However, due to the fire, he was still trapped. Plus, he could feel the symbiote's panicked thoughts assaulting his mind. It was practically having a panic attack! Then he noticed something. The strangers were collecting the bodies of the Travelers that had apparently killed! Then he noticed through his enhanced vision that they were still breathing! Why were they taking Travelers alive?

Unfortunately, he wasn't going to get an opportunity to find out, since they were all retreating into the box that they had arrived in and were lifting into the air! Garter looked around and he realized that most of the Travelers had ran off, so he wouldn't have to worry about that.

When he looked back to the box, he could see that it was accelerating away from him! He could see a trail left behind it. He started turning to go collect his supplies, but then turned back to look at the trail. Why had they abducted Travelers?

" _We should help them."_ The symbiote said, catching Garter by surprise.

" _Uh, why? Also, how did you know we should run?"_ Garter asked.

" _I'm… not sure. I think I knew something about them from before the amnesia thing? Either way, helping the other Travelers is the right thing to do."_ The symbiote replied.

" _The right thing to do?! The right thing to do is survive to see the next day! And the one after that! I mean, there are some implicit things like don't cannibalize, but I don't see how helping them after they've been captured by an unknown party with weapons that easily outstrip ours to be the right thing to do!"_ Garter retorted. The symbiote held firm.

" _We need to help them. Besides, I can read your mind, remember? I know you want to go after them too."_ The symbiote argued. Garter tried to find another retort, but the symbiote had him beaten there.

" _Fine. Let me grab my gear and we'll get moving. Assuming they don't change course, it shouldn't take too long to find them._ " Garter relented before making his way through the dying flames to his campsite, which had thankfully been spared a torching. After collecting his pack, he started following the trail left behind by the flying box.

Hopefully the rescue mission would be nice and simple. If only.

* * *

 **And that's where we'll leave it for today! And oh, man has it been a while. At the beginning, we said that this was start on December 2** **nd** **, 2018.**

 **Creativity: It is now February 21, 2019. Yeah, bit quiet on the writing front over here.**

 **Author: Well, this is the stress story. Three more before this all starts being released.**

 **Part of why it's taken so long is because we've been really concerned about getting the final stretch of A Very Bad Idea finished up, which it practically is. We're just about to start the final two-chapter fireworks display as of this writing.**

 **Plus, we have Limit Breaker doing pretty well for itself. Still trying to figure out why it took off like it did, though.**

 **Alright, so next time, we have Ana going out on patrol for the first time and Garter tracking down where his fellow Travelers were abducted to.**

 **See ya tomorrow!**


	12. First Patrol

**Good day to you all! I hope you all are enjoying Wednesday as best you can.**

 **Creativity: Man, am I excited to get this one out there!**

 **Author: Me too.**

 **Anyway, We're slowly but surely getting closer to the big plan with all the stories we're working on. This AN got edited a bit from the original since it's taken so long, but long story short, we've finished up A Very Bad Idea and are working on Before: Kingdom Hearts. Again, most of the prewritten AN was rewritten for a change.**

 **Creativity: Shall we jump into the story?**

 **Author: Soon, but we got some stuff to explain first.**

 **So, first off, upon further consideration we've come to the conclusion that this story is gonna be made shorter than we initially planned. Honestly, that's a good thing. I really want to trim my stories down a bit so that I don't get sick of writing them.**

 **Also, I've been experimenting with different publication schedules, such as the one we do here, where I publish in five-chapter waves. Limit Breaker, which is my OTHER stress story is published on a 'when it's ready' basis, sorta like this one, except without completing a set. Before: Kingdom Hearts will have another such experimental system.**

 **Alright, I think that's enough behind-the-scenes talk. Let us proudly present chapter 8 of Venom: Resurgence! (no new reviews today)**

* * *

The first thing Ana decided needed to be added to the proper version of her suit was insulation. She'd arrived at that decision when she climbed up an incredibly high skyscraper and was currently standing atop it, looking down on the city. She opened up her backpack and pulled out the outer cover of her suit. She was already wearing the circuit-weave mesh shirt and had a hoody on overtop. She stripped off the hoody and pulled on the blue jacket and mask she had made before pulling on the gloves and attaching the webshooters. She ran a check on the HUD and cycled through the options for her webshooters before locking them on the standard mode of fire. She then proceeded to quickly test them to make sure that they were functioning properly. She didn't want to leap off of the building and then suddenly have her one means of saving herself not work.

Satisfied that the webshooters were working, she then stepped up to the building and looked down. That was a terrible, terrible mistake, and she soon found herself rapidly backing up.

"What am I thinking, what am I thinking, whatamithinkingwhatamithinking…" She ranted to herself in an undertone before taking a moment to breath and calm down.

"Panicking won't do me any good. Peter would have felt this nervous on his first jump, right? He still did it. I can do it. I can do this. I can do this…" Ana muttered before turning around and staring towards the ledge. She took a few breaths before marching forward. Slowly she broke into a run and took a flying leap off of the building.

Immediately, her heart was in her throat as she plummeted through the air, approaching the pavement below evermore rapidly. Suddenly, almost by itself, her arm snapped up and she launched a web onto a nearby skyscraper! The jerk in her arm was a bit more jostling than she would have liked, but she still held strong, arcing down towards the streets, then back up to sail through the air! Near the peak of her swing, she launched forward with a whoop of exhilaration before casting another webline and swinging towards a nearby building, running along the side of it before reaching the corner and launching off of it and starting another swing. She felt on top of the world.

As she kept swinging through the city, she eventually decided to stop and rest on a nearby building. It turned out that web swinging was a lot more exhausting than she had initially thought, despite her newfound super strength.

On the plus side, her suit and the gadgets that came with it were all working great. She'd managed to add a display that told her how far above the ground she was, which seemed to be working pretty well, though she suspected it needed a bit of fine-tuning. It wasn't terribly good at keeping up with velocities higher than 40 meters per second, or approximately four seconds of free fall, and that didn't even take the G forces of the pendulum movement of her swings into account. Still, she was confident she'd be able to sort it out. Maybe it would be worth it to bring Mira in on this. With her enthusiasm and know-how, she'd have the whole suit up and running in an afternoon.

Her thoughts on her future career as a super-hero were interrupted when she noticed movement in an alleyway below her. Using her mask to zoom in on the alley, she could see it was a mugging in progress. Grinning under her mask, she dropped down into the alley and snagged the first mugger with a webline before yanking them towards her and kicking them into the wall, webbing them in place before turning to the rest of them.

"So, is this you're idea of the perfect Saturday night, or does your lack of friends make this the best option you have?" She called out to the five other muggers, who rounded on her and were shocked to find one of their number webbed to a wall.

"Says the fangirl freak dressed up like a bootleg version of a failure!" One of the muggers called out, though they didn't sound confident. Ana frowned under her costume.

"I'll have you know that the costume isn't done yet, thank you very much. Now, I believe I'm supposed to have you all webbed up for when the authorities arrive, correct?" She replied before firing two globs of web at the muggers further back, hitting them square in the face! She immediately charged forward and leapt onto a wall before leaping off of it to deliver a blow to the first mugger, which she immediately grabbed and tossed against the wall, webbing him up quickly before ducking under a strike from another, then proceeding to sweep his legs out from under him and webbing him to the ground before turning to the three remaining muggers, two of which were still trying to tear webbing from their faces.

She soon had them taken care of and had the whole group webbed together and hung from the building, just within arms reach for the authorities. Satisfied with a job well done, she webbed her way back up to swinging heights and started making her way back to the skyscraper where she'd hidden her things. Underneath her mask, she was grinning from ear to ear. Her first act as the all-new Spider Woman. She couldn't wait to hear the news the next day. She expected some blowback, considering how the heroes of old weren't particularly well-regarded, but maybe she could do something about that if she kept doing this. Maybe this was the beginning of a new Age of Heroes, with her being the one to take the first step!

As she got back to the skyscraper, she couldn't help but wonder if the return of a Spider Hero could be the start of something big. Could it be possible that there were others out there who could be like her? People to take up the mantle left behind by the Age of Heroes?

"One step at a time, Ana Sturm. Iron Man isn't going to magically come back because you got the gadgets and the powers of another hero." Ana reminded herself as she collected her stuff and started making her way back to her family's apartment. She silently cracked the window open and slipped inside before stripping the costume off and stashing it under her bed and pulling on her pajamas. As she crawled under the covers, she couldn't keep the grin off her face at having just lived a day in the life of Spider Man. The first of many.

* * *

Garter was good at tracking. He had to be. Which was why he was so frustrated by the fact that his tracking skills were basically useless since his current quarry didn't travel by land and didn't need to stop like a bird would. All he had were the trails left in the sky, which he couldn't track very accurately since he couldn't keep up with them, and was still human despite symbiote augmentation, forcing him to stop and rest before continuing.

Fortunately, he still had a rough guess as to where to go. At the moment, evidence pointed to the abductors having come from the last city, though that was unusual. Despite their scarcity, Travelers were well-dispersed enough that the whole of the culture knew what was happening in the world, using established points of meeting to exchange information about movements of Rippers, symbiotes, as well as food sources. The abductions from a few nights ago would definitely have rated a mention, assuming that one person got away and then wasn't killed or possessed afterwards.

No, this had to be something that had started recently, especially since last time Garter had checked, the people within the city never ventured beyond its protection. Why they were leaving now to abduct Travelers, Garter couldn't guess at. It couldn't be good, though.

"So, any thoughts on where we should go next?" Garter asked the symbiote, who give a mental shrug in response.

" _You're guess is as good as mine. I've been trying to remember anything of use, though I'm not sure that there'd be anything of relevance to our situation in those memories. Now, all that aside, have you thought about how exactly you're going to track them down? Assuming they've been taken to the city, it's going to be practically impossible for you to get inside, with or without me. Even if you do somehow get us inside, how are you going to track down the Travelers that were captured? That city isn't exactly small, and you don't have any method of tracking them down."_ The symbiote reminded him. Garter grumbled to himself in response.

" _Don't remind me. Besides, you're the one who guilt-tripped me into doing this, remember? Look, we'll figure something out once we get there. For now, we need to get close enough to the city to observe it and try to find a way in. I can't believe that there'd be no way in. If there wasn't how would that flying box…"_

" _It's called an aircraft."_ The symbiote interrupted.

" _Whatever! That aircraft had to come from somewhere, right? Well, that could be our way in."_ Garter reasoned, though the symbiote didn't seem convinced.

" _It's unlikely it has a personal entrance. More likely it's designed to allow its passengers to pass through the shield without discomfort… wait a minute. Why don't we just sneak aboard one of the aircraft and get inside that way?"_ The symbiote suggested. Garter thought about it for a few minutes as he kept running towards the city.

" _That could work, though there are a few problems to consider. First of all, we don't know when another one of those aircraft will be entering or leaving the city. Secondly, even if we did, we don't if it's possible to sneak aboard one of them without being caught."_ Garter pointed out.

" _Well, it's safe to assume that they're keeping the captives in containment of some kind. You could probably hide there. You'd just have to be able to sneak out without arousing suspicion once we land, which I believe we are more than capable of. Of course, this all assumes that we sneak aboard an aircraft that_ know _contains more abducted Travelers. If we don't know, or we know that they_ aren't _aboard the aircraft, we simply sneak off before we land. If we_ do _know, then we can take a gamble on the possibility that wherever they took the other abducted Travelers is where they're taking us."_ The symbiote reasoned.

" _Wow, you've really thought of everything. Well, everything that assumes we can sneak aboard one of those things in the first place. By the way, how did you know that thing was called an aircraft? You're memories coming back?"_ Garter asked.

" _I… maybe? I'm not sure. There's knowledge that's coming back to me, but I can't remember where I learned it. It's strange. The more knowledge that comes back to me, the more it feels like this isn't normal amnesia. It's almost as if my memories were cut away from my mind."_ The symbiote replied. Garter didn't know what to make of that statement, so he simply kept his mouth shut. The pair travelled in silence for the next fifteen minutes of running, though they soon had new reason to speak as the sun was setting. Additionally, there was the rapid change in scenery. Before, they had been running through a sparse forest that posed little obstacles. Whereas now they were traversing a desert in the twilight hours of the day. It would probably be a good idea to stop for the night and set up camp.

Finding a rocky outcropping that they could hide under to avoid detection, Garter immediately set about getting a fire going and preparing some food. As he cooked, he kept his ears pricked for any sound that could herald an incoming aircraft. Soon enough, his meal was ready, and he dug in ravenously. He had skipped lunch in favour of covering more ground and desperately needed the food. Once he had finished eating, he found that he was still hungry, though he didn't want to dip into his supplies again.

Luckily, the dropping temperature meant that potential snack items were starting to wake up. Garter sat stock still as his symbiote-enhanced eyes identified two lizards nearby that were both large enough for a meal, and non-venomous or poisonous. Once they were close enough, two tendrils shot out of his arm and impaled them, killing them instantly.

After cooking them, he picked the bones clean and lay back, enjoying the extension of the meal.

" _You do realize you could have just let me eat those things whole without cooking them, right? Why bother with fire if you don't need to?"_ The symbiote asked. Garter rolled his eyes.

" _Because I like it that way. Besides, your way creeps me out, the same way the fire makes you uneasy. Don't worry, I'm putting it out and then we'll rest for the night. You able to keep an ear out for any passing aircraft?"_ Garter asked.

" _What else would I bother doing? I'm not going to walk you around at night after all the running you've already done today."_ The symbiote replied. Garter was a bit on edge after the symbiote mentioned it could pilot his body when he was unconscious but did his best to ignore it as he hid himself under the rock outcropping and closed his eyes.

As he waited for sleep to take him, he couldn't help but wonder what in all he was diving into. These abductions had to be for a reason and that reason couldn't be to rescue them from the insane world they lived in. No, they were being used for something. That much was obvious.

The question then became what they were using the abducted Travelers for.

* * *

 **And there's chapter 8 done! Wow, this took a long time to complete, but I feel good about it.**

 **Creativity: First patrol was pretty cool**

 **Author: A bit barebones, but I think it was pretty well done.**

 **We'll probably have a bit of a time jump next chapter, though we're not sure on that. Plus, work is primarily go into the KH story, so finishing this set up will take a bit longer. It'll get done, though, just you wait.**

 **Creativity: I mean, it'll be done when they read this… It's in the middle of…**

 **Author: Don't say stupid things.**

 **Anyway, I think that's enough outta me! See ya tomorrow!**


	13. Revelations

**Well, here we are with chapter 9! Not much to say here, honestly. Figured we'd just jump straight into the reviews.**

 **Creativity: Just rechecking here… Yep! Nothing on the docket!**

 **And, there's no reviews! Like I said, I don't really have much to say at the moment… Oh, right!**

 **I've decided that I'm going to be putting the Discord server password at the end of the Friday chapter. I'll try to keep it in circulation instead of deleting it on a per chapter basis like I do with Limit Breaker.**

 **Welp, without further ado, I present chapter 9 of Venom: Resurgence!**

* * *

It was approaching midnight. The sky was filled with stars and the moon was reaching its zenith. On any other night, Garter would have taken some time to appreciate the sight. However, he couldn't afford even a few seconds.

He'd been tracking a group of Travelers that were straying close to the city, gambling that a group of Travelers that close to the city would be too easy a prize for whoever was behind the abductions to pass up. Since finding them he'd watched them from a distance for nearly a week, half hoping he'd be wrong.

In the end though, he'd been proven right as he saw a large aircraft appear on the horizon, heading back towards the city. At first, it appeared that it would simply pass them by, but when it started slowing down and gearing up to land, he knew that the Travelers had become marks. On the plus side, he now had a very brief window of opportunity. According to the symbiote, an aircraft of that size would have an access point in its landing gear, so he wouldn't even need to hide among the prisoners. He wanted to question how the symbiote knew that, then remembered that it couldn't answer. If they weren't staring at a very small window of opportunity, he would have done it anyway, just to annoy it.

Garter crept closer and closer as the city-dwellers loaded the unconscious Travelers into an area in the back until he saw an opening and darted forward and hiding next to the landing gear of the aircraft. Confident that he hadn't been seen, he followed the symbiote's instructions and slipped into a crawl space where the landing gear wouldn't crush him. According to the symbiote, the space was here for maintenance purposes. He didn't exactly get what that meant, but it didn't really matter. All that mattered was that he had a way into the city. Now the problem was how to hide once he got in. Oh, and how to avoid getting caught when it came time for him to abandon his hiding place. He was leaning towards a… less subtle option for the latter problem. After all, according to the symbiote's half-memories, the landing pad would likely be a lot more crowded and difficult to escape from. Therefore, it would probably be better for them to escape midflight.

As the ship shuddered and lifted into the air, Garter could feel the symbiote shudder a bit at the vibrations. Soon enough though, things settled, and the aircraft was on its way. It was only about twenty minutes before the entire ship jostled and the symbiote violently shuddered; a good indicator that they had passed through the barrier. After waiting a few minutes, Garter reared back his fist and punched it straight through the metal before wrenching it open and dropping into the city.

Immediately, he webbed his way to a nearby building, sticking to the side by his feet and one hand and watching the aircraft continue on its way. It was heading towards a tall building, though not quite the tallest. It appeared to have its own landing platform though, and also seemed heavily fortified.

"Well, at least we have a place to start" Garter muttered before going into a freefall towards the ground. He used a few webs to slow his fall and eventually dropped into an alleyway before looking out at the people outside. It was a just a few moments before the symbiote shapeshifted to give him clothes that looked more like what the people outside were wearing. His new outfit consisted of a white shirt, black jacket with two white stripes running vertically down from his shoulders, blue jeans and black shoes. After stowing his hands in his pockets, he walked out into the streets, trying his best to go unnoticed.

" _Alright. We're in, we have an idea of where to go, now all we need is a plan to get there."_ Garter muttered in his head.

" _It won't be easy with all of those fortifications. Even with my shapeshifting and camouflage we'll be hard-pressed. And that all assumes that there aren't any countermeasures specifically for symbiotes. I imagine that in a city that was constructed around specifically keeping them out, they'd include such countermeasures in one of their more important structures. You humans are very paranoid about such things."_ The symbiote added. Garter rolled his eyes.

" _I wonder how paranoid we were before you lot showed up. Besides, paranoia is what's kept me alive as long as it has."_ Garter shot back as he continued down the street. The two of them kept making plans as they made their way down the street until he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Looking up, he saw something that made both him and the symbiote freeze with shock.

Someone was swinging through the city on webs, dressed in a blue suit that was reminiscent of the symbiote's more subdued form when it revealed itself. He couldn't tell if anyone else had noticed, but that didn't exactly matter at the moment. What did matter was how this was possible, and why the symbiote appeared to be having a violent reaction to the sight.

Almost as soon as Garter had noticed them, the symbiote started to have what felt like some sort of attack, though thankfully it didn't affect its appearance as clothing. However, it was giving him one hell of a headache. Ducking into an alleyway, he pressed his hand to his head and groaned.

" _Hey, are you alright?! Why are you freaking out?!"_ Garter ground out through the headache. The symbiote didn't respond as its thoughts began to rapidly assault his mind!

" _Spider… spider heroparkerhostparkerSpidermanThompsonBrock… VENOM!"_

The symbiote's chaotic thoughts only allowed for a few brief words and sensations before Garter finally mustered enough concentration to break through the rapid onslaught.

" _CALM DOWN!"_ Garter roared in his mind. It seemed that the 'force' was strong enough to snap the symbiote out of whatever had come over it. Now that it was in possession of its faculties, it seemed shaken, even chilled.

" _Alright, you've gotten a grip. Now, can you tell me what that was all about?"_ Garter asked. The symbiote took a few moments before responding.

" _Something about seeing that person… It caused some fragments of my memories to resurface in rapid succession… No, it was more like they were… labels, for lack of a better term, for my missing memories. But that's not all, or even the most important thing I picked up on. I'm almost one hundred percent certain that whoever we just saw was bonded to a symbiote, at least at one point. The signs are really faint, but they're definitely there."_ The symbiote answered, still sounding very shaken. Garter frowned.

" _How could one have gotten through the barrier? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think they were smart enough to use the method we did."_ Garter questioned, though he was also shaken by the implications.

" _Normally I'd take offence to that last remark, but it is true that the rank and file aren't very strategic. However, that doesn't mean that it wasn't one of the more intelligent ones that slipped in here. What I'm more perplexed by was the fact that whoever we just saw was using our abilities but had such a weak signature, almost as if the symbiote had abandoned its host. However, if that was the case, then how would the former host be still capable of doing… well, everything we just saw?"_ The symbiote answered, sounding more anxious. Garter would be lying if he said he wasn't starting to feel the same. Then he had a thought.

" _During your… episode, I managed to pick up a few things. Namely, a Spider Man, a few names I can't quite recall, and one other thing: You mentioned Venom again."_ Garter informed the symbiote, hoping that he wouldn't trigger another episode.

" _I feel that Spider Man should mean more to me than it does, but I can't place it. However, I think I might have pieced together the Venom thing. I think Venom refers to me in some way. Whether it's a name, an insult or some sort of title, I don't know."_ The symbiote replied. Garter pinched the bridge of his nose.

" _Well, at least we have that. Now, what should we do? Do we start planning to break those Travelers out of… whatever that place is, or do we investigate the potential symbiote infestation?"_ Garter muttered. Neither him or the symbiote had an idea of which to choose.

* * *

Ana was ecstatic as she slipped back into her room and shed her recently completed costume. It had been the first test run for it, and it had worked beautifully. The costume was primarily blue, but with a black spider emblem on her torso, with two legs that wrapped over her shoulders and under her arms to join up with a similar logo on her back. The lower set of legs repeated this motif around her legs. The arms were primarily blue, though she did add gauntlet-looking designs on her forearms to mask the webshooters that she had integrated into the suit. The lower half of the suit was also primarily blue, except for a few black lines that wrapped around her calves to join up with a utility belt she had added to the suit, which held additional web cartridges as well as room for other assorted gadgets she wanted to work on.

After stowing the suit under her bed, she pulled her pajamas on and made sure that all the electronic devices on the suit were turned off, as well as plugging them into the chargers she had hidden under her bed. After all, she didn't want the suit dying on her mid-swing. Even if the webshooters still worked, the mask going out would definitely hamper her vision and she didn't want to be swinging around the city with her face uncovered.

She was also considering a bit of armored padding for her knuckles, or learning how to actually punch, considering a few of the crimes she had stopped that night had left her fingers feeling a bit sore. She looked down at them and frowned when she saw bruises forming. That would be difficult to hide from her parents, let alone everyone at school.

Hoping that part of her spider powers involved quick healing, she snuck out of her room and into the bathroom where she started rooting around for the first-aid kit they kept in there. After finding it, she pulled out the gauze and wrapped it around her knuckles and fingers before crawling under the covers and drifting off to sleep. As fun as this double life was, it was also exhausting.

* * *

 _The next day…_

Ana groaned as she was awoken by the hellish sound of her alarm going off. After checking the time, she crawled out of bed and looked down at her hands, briefly wondering through her tired haze why they were wrapped in gauze. Then she remembered the bruises from the previous night. After unwinding the gauze, she was delighted (Well, as delighted as one could be, considering how tired she was) to find that the bruises were completely gone!

After hauling herself to the bathroom with a towel, she took a slightly longer than usual shower to try and wake herself up, then got dressed and shambled downstairs to throw breakfast together. Today it was simple cereal and cold milk. After depositing all her dishes in the sink, she grabbed her school things and walked out the door to her monorail station, listening to music as she went.

It all felt so boring. If she wasn't worried about people figuring out who she was, or her parents figuring out that she wasn't using transit fare, she'd have started swinging to school every day. The workout and the adrenaline would be great for starting the day.

As the monorail reached her stop, she disembarked and started walking the remaining distance, wishing that she could have made tea or something to go with her breakfast and help wake her up.

As she walked up the steps, she felt a tap on her shoulder that made her jump a lot more than it should have. If she hadn't had more self restraint, she probably would have been clinging to the ceiling.

"Wow, someone's jumpy today." A familiar voice remarked behind her.

"Give me a break. I've been having trouble sleeping lately." Ana muttered as Mira drew up along side her.

"So, you hear the morning news?" Mira asked her in a leading tone of voice. Ana groaned and rubbed her eyes.

"Does it look like I bothered to listen to the news? In all the time you've known me, have I EVER bothered to listen to the news?" Ana replied exasperatedly. Mira grinned.

"Well, since you have that obsession with 'the legendary heroes of old' and now we have that new Spider Hero that's been doing assorted do-gooding, I thought you would have started following the news like a fanatic." She lightly jabbed. Ana groaned.

"I did at first, but considering they only ever paint the people who the police and witnesses say were in the midst of committing crimes as victims, beset upon by a delusional fanatic, I lost interest. Unbiased reporting my ass." Ana growled. Mira giggled a little at Ana's reaction before pulling her into a one-armed hug.

"Well, if they got into this and expected a good rep, they obviously didn't do their homework." Mira joked as they made their way to her first class. Thankfully, it was a Friday and she'd done all of her homework before going out on her nightly escapades as Spider Woman, so she didn't have to worry about late submissions. Plus, she likely wouldn't have to deal with much homework this weekend, since she had a couple of tests today… Tests that she'd skimped on studying for, due to her nightly escapades as Spider Woman… This double life thing was going to be harder than she thought. Hopefully the tests wouldn't be too brutal. The two friends entered the classroom and took their usual seats, waiting for the other students and the teacher to arrive.

"Say, you up to hang out this weekend? We haven't had an overnight hangout in ages!" Mira asked. Ana brightened up a bit at the suggestion.

"Sure! My place?" she asked. Mira grinned.

"Definitely. Won't have my parents looking over our shoulders. Want me to bring snacks?" She asked. Ana eyed her.

"You aren't going to use such power as an opportunity to bring really weird stuff for us to eat, right?" Ana inquired. Mira groaned.

"That was one time, and I genuinely thought that those chips were a good idea." She huffed. Ana smirked at her.

"Alright, you can handle the snacks. But no weird stuff, okay?" She impressed upon her friend, who swatted her arm in reprisal. They immediately quieted down the moment the teacher arrived, though. After going through roll call, the teacher immediately began handing out the first test of the day. Ana willed her tiredness away and got to work, thankful that at least the first page was proving simple enough. She had to keep up appearances, after all.

* * *

 _Several test-filled hours later…_

"Dear Thor, I thought today would never end." Ana groaned as she and Mira hurried out of the school building and past the gates.

"No kidding. So, see you at 8:00?" Mira asked. Ana nodded.

"8:00 sharp. I'll order pizza." Ana promised. Mira eyed her suspiciously.

"This isn't going to be an act of vengeance thing where you order a pizza that will disgust or horrify me, is it?" She asked. Ana smirked.

"Now, am I the sort of person to do that?" She asked innocently. Mira gave her a faux glare before waving goodbye as she made her way to her own monorail station. However, as Ana approached her stop, she decided that waiting for the monorail was too boring after the drag of a day she'd had so far. Luckily, she had a solution stowed in her backpack.

After slipping into an alleyway, she switched out her clothes for her costume. Soon enough, she was swinging through the city and heading for home. As launched herself from the peak of an arc, she realized that she needed to let her parents know that Mira was staying the night. She webbed her way to a nearby building and perched on top of it before retrieving her holo-glass from her bag. After pulling her mask off of her mouth so that her voice wouldn't be muffled. Her mother didn't pick up, but Ana expected that. She'd been really busy as of late. So, she simply left a voice message for her.

"Hey mom. I'm just calling to let you know that Mira's coming over for the weekend. Okay, bye."

Having left the message, Ana pulled her mask back down over her mouth and stowed her holo-glass before swinging off towards her house, eager to start getting things ready for Mira coming over. However, as she was swinging home she noticed a mugging happening in a back alley. Groaning at the sight, she swung her way down to the scene of the crime before catching the mugger by the back of his jacket and relieving him of his weapon, a switchblade, before cocooning him with just his eyes and nose visible.

"Look, I know I solved this pretty quickly, but you still took up precious seconds. Superheroes have plans to, you know." She muttered to him as she hung upside down in front of him before swinging away. Along the way, she happened across a robbery in progress at a café, so she swung down to handle that as well. A few minutes and several webbed-up criminals later, she was back on track and heading for home.

And then there was the idiots on a joy ride. Now she was convinced that the universe was conspiring to punish her for not using the monorail. Luckily, she was able to sort out that problem in a few minutes with no casualties. It did use up a lot of her webbing though. She frowned as she loaded fresh cartridges into her webshooters, she finally managed to make it back to the apartment. After making sure she was suitably hidden, she slipped in through her bedroom window and slowly closed it, pulling her mask off before turning to close the door to her room, only to be confronted with a problem.

Mira was standing in the middle hallway, hand on the door to the bathroom, staring at Ana, eyes bugging out and her jaw hanging open.

The two simply stared at each other in silence, neither currently possessing the ability to speak. About three minutes must have passed before Ana finally said something.

"I can explain."

* * *

 **Someone just got buuuuuusteeeeeed.**

 **Creativity: Did not see that coming so soon.**

 **Author: Wasn't the original plan, but I think it works. Besides, it gives us an interesting dynamic for the future.**

 **Creativity: Does that mean we're gonna do that thing that we wrote down that needed to happen either at the end of this set, or the beginning of the next?**

 **Author: Still on the fence on how I want to execute that, but I'm leaning towards both. We got some setup we need to do for that one still.**

 **Well, I think that's about it for now! See ya tomorrow!**


	14. Prelude to battle

**Welp, it took us a whopping six months to get this set done. Man, life flies.**

 **Creativity: I mean, you did say this was a story you'd only be working on in between other projects, and you did want to finish up A Very Bad Idea primarily, which you did. Also, you started Limit Breaker and that's been going stronger (Literally our top story by a WIIIIIIIIDE margin) than everything else**

 **Author: True, but I still feel bad about leaving folks interested in this story high and dry for six months, possibly seven by the time this is finished.**

 **So, for all of you who waited patiently for this story to return, I thank you. I hope the wait will have been worth it.**

 **Now then, let us answer your reviews:**

 **Joeclone: Thank you very much! Next set is gonna get real fun, I can feel it...**

 **And that's the reviews answered! Now, what else do we have to talk about… oh yeah! Discord Server!**

 **I'll be offering up multiple Discord server passwords from now on (considering multiple stories will contain the passwords) so I hope to see you all come to chat! Password:** **R23A8zG**

 **Alright, now that we have all that out of the way, Creativity? Would you do the honors?**

 **Creativity: R…Really?**

 **Author: Really. Go for it.**

 **Creativity: Th…Thanks, boss! Alright *Ahem***

 **Creativity: Let us proudly present chapter 10 of Venom: Resurgence!**

* * *

Ana could not remember a time she felt more trapped. Her best friend was currently staring at her in full costume, presumably having seen her crawl in through the window and definitely having seen her take off the mask. After the tense silence, Ana finally broke with the first words that came to mind.

"I can explain!" She exclaimed as Mira gaped at her like a goldfish.

"Y… You're the new…" She stuttered, but she couldn't get the rest of the words out.

"What are you even doing here?! How did you even get in?! It's not 8:00 yet!" Ana hissed as she rushed over and dragged Mira into her bedroom and slammed the door, wincing at the loudness and hoping she that she hadn't heard any chipping.

"My mom wasn't home, and she wouldn't answer the phone, so I left a message and packed! I called and texted you, but you weren't answering, so I used that Card Trick to get in and wait! What is going on here?!" She exclaimed as Ana hurriedly worked her way out of her suit.

"I didn't feel like taking the monorail home today!" She replied.

"Not that! Since when could you climb on walls, shoot webs, you know, be Spider Man?!" She almost shouted before Ana clapped a hand over Mira's mouth.

"Would you keep it down?! I wear a mask for a reason you know!" She hissed. Ana held up her hands in surrender as Ana began pulling on pajamas and stowing the suit under her bed.

"Do your parents know?" Mira asked. Ana shook her head.

"Nobody knows! You think I'd still be in school if someone knew?! I'd probably be in a lab somewhere if somebody knew!" She retorted hysterically before hurrying out of her bedroom, Mira following behind.

"Okay, what about the suit? That had to be why you were asking me about the circuit weave mesh for." She pressed. Ana rubbed her temples.

"Okay, short version. I was at my grandparents for a visit. I'd felt a little weird all day before I got there, and one night I got surprised, jumped and found myself stuck to the ceiling. After that, I started trying to figure out why. I brought up connections between Spider Man and someone named Peter Parker during a meal and my grandparents got really dodgy about the subject, as well as accidentally glancing towards the entrance to the attic. I snuck up there and found a chest with a bunch of stuff belonging to Peter Parker, as well as a bunch of blueprints, old gadgets and Spider Man's suits. Turns out Peter Parker was Spider Man's secret identity and he's also one of my ancestors." Ana explained quickly. Mira looked at her in awe.

"Wow… What are the odds, huh?!" Mira exclaimed. Ana looked at her.

"THAT'S what you have to say?" She questioned. Mira shrugged.

"Well, considering you're little obsession with all those old heroes and all…" She mentioned, trailing off before she seemingly blanked for a second.

"So, how do the webs work? Do you actually shoot them out of your wrists, or…?" She asked, leading Ana to groan.

"No! I modified old schematics in the chest to create up-to-date webshooters. They're a bit bulkier than the Stark design, but they've got better web capacity and I simplified the system for alternate modes of fire." She explained, causing Mira's eyes to light up.

"Webshooters?! Oh man, you have GOT to let me make gadgets for you! Seriously, let me have a look at some of those schematics and I bet I could throw together something you could use out there!" She ranted excitedly. Ana held up her hands in an attempt to keep her at bay.

"Woah, easy there! I'm already having trouble juggling both lives, I don't need you getting wrapped up in it too." She tried to dissuade, but Mira would have none of it

"Oh no, you are not keeping me out of something this awesome! I could help give you access to police radio to track crimes, tracking devices, streamline your suit, the list goes on! Come on, let me in on this, please?" She begged. Ana wanted to say no, but Mira had a point. She was way better at design and construction than Ana could dream to be. Plus, she knew her secret now, and it would probably be a good idea to keep in closer contact rather than risk her accidentally blabbing by keeping her out of the loop.

"Alright, but under one condition. We say nothing about this to anyone. Am I clear? No one, and I mean NO ONE can know about this." Ana said with utmost seriousness. Mira nodded. Ana grinned.

"Alright, we're actually doing this. Now, back to what we came here to do…" She said before getting up and walking back to her room to retrieve her holo-glass.

"What pizza do you want?" She called from the hallway as she dialed the number of a local pizzeria.

"The usual. Also, I brought snacks." Mira responded, motioning to a small pile of chip and candy bags. After Ana placed the order for two large pizzas (one special and one vegetarian) She easily leapt across the room onto the couch, prompting Mira to start clapping sarcastically.

"Let me guess, you've wanted to do that since you got your powers?" She asked. Ana grinned.

"Maaaaybe." She replied innocently before taking out one of her webshooters, which she had also retrieved from her room and using it to grab one of the candy bags. Mira looked at her with glee.

"Oh man, that is so cool!" She breathed as she reached into the bag and grabbed a few for herself.

"So, Card Trick still works? The landlord updated the ID scanners a couple of months ago. I thought it would have caught up by now." She mentioned. Mira smirked.

"Still not enough to beat my genius. Haven't had much use for it recently though, outside my locker of course." She replied. Card Trick was an app that Mira had developed for her holo-glass that could break through most any commercial grade security system. She'd developed it originally because she got tired of waiting to get into Ana's apartment, thus providing herself with a method of just letting herself in.

"Remember that time you accidentally opened someone else's locker because you'd forgotten that lockers changed between semesters?" She reminisced, leading Mira to groan.

"Oh god, that was a long week. Can't believe my mom didn't catch on to how I'd gotten into that particular bit of trouble." She grumbled. Ana started sifting through the movie collection while they waited for the pizza to arrive.

"So, what should we watch? Ooh, let's watch Space Knights of Galador!" She suggested, leading Mira to roll her eyes.

"Well, considering it's _you_ I know we'll have to watch it at some point this weekend, so might as well get it out of the way now." She muttered. Ana frowned at her.

"You love this movie and you know it." She shot back as she pressed play. Mira rolled her eyes again, though didn't try to refute her friend. The two reclined on the couch as the opening credits began, slowly working their way to the bottom of the candy bag before Ana retrieved a pair of chip bags, spider style. The weekend was already shaping up to be a good one.

* * *

Garter sat perched on one of the many skyscrapers within the city. He was clad in the symbiote's suit form, casing out the structure that the aircraft had landed at. So far, he hadn't found any easy points of entry, though he had found a few potential spots of he could draw the guards and other personnel away from a few specific locations. Still, he wanted to keep his options open. He'd only have one chance to break everyone out and he wanted to do it right.

At the moment, the easiest way in that he could spot was an air vent just off the side of the landing pad. Problem was that unless he got the timing right, he'd get spotted and likely shot down before he got anywhere near the vent. He'd likely need to rig up some sort of diversion to keep their attention away from the vent, so he could sneak in. Then it was a matter if finding the captive Travelers and getting out of there without dying. Which would be… difficult. For one, the structure was massive, and they could be anywhere inside. And then, assuming he did find them, he had to find a way to break them out. Then came the problem of how to transport them out of the city without dying.

"What the hell am I doing, again?" He asked no one in particular.

" _Well, I suppose this task was a bit more complicated than either of us originally thought. After getting through the barrier, I guess we just assumed that would be the hard part."_ Venom mused, causing Garter to growl in frustration. He'd started referring to the symbiote as Venom after its little epiphany, since he figured it could use a name.

" _I guess we're both bad at forethought. Kinda funny though, since forethought is what was supposed to be keeping me alive until you showed up. I thin you're a bad influence on me."_ Garter jabbed, mainly just looking for something to take his mind off of how hopeless their endeavour was growing by the minute.

" _I take offense to that. But either way, that doesn't make it impossible. All we need to get in is something loud and distracting. We shouldn't have to worry about getting caught once we're in the vents. As for where to find your people, we just need to find a security center and we could probably figure it out from there. Of course, if we need more information, we could always find someone to acquire that information from."_ Venom replied.

" _Oh yeah, an interrogation. That wouldn't at all blow our cover at all."_ Garter muttered sarcastically.

" _Why would we need to interrogate? I could just fish around in their brain for the information we need and there we go."_ Venom corrected, seemingly confused as to why Garter thought interrogation was what it was talking about.

" _Let me get this straight."_ Garter started, sounding perfectly calm. Venom could tell he wasn't though.

" _You can just go into someone's head, take information that you're looking for, and leave. And, you can do all of this without getting caught."_ Garter summarized.

" _Yes, that's right."_ Venom replied.

" _And at no point in the last few days did you think to share this information?!"_ Garter all but roared in his head. He could feel embarrassment coming from Venom.

" _I suppose I could have mentioned it sooner… Well, you know now. Should we start searching for someone who we can probe for information?"_ Venom suggested. Garter just pinched his brow.

" _Yes. Yes, let's go do that."_ Garter sighed before leaping off the building and swinging towards another vantage point. This one would be better for picking out a target that they could pull information from.

What transpired from there was a lot more waiting. A few hours of it, in fact. However, their patience was rewarded when another aircraft arrived. Sure enough, the cargo was more Travelers. After successfully beating down his first instinct to jump down there and start tearing his way through the guards and other personnel to break the Travelers free, he scoped out a few potential targets; the crew of the aircraft had disembarked and were heading inside. Descending further, Garter settled in for more waiting. However, he wouldn't be waiting nearly as long. Soon enough, the crew all departed from the structure and were making their way towards a small group of vehicles. Picking out an isolated one, Garter swooped in and knocked out the crew member before retreating to the shadows.

" _Alright, do your thing"_ Garter told Venom, who caused several tendrils to erupt from Garter's arm and latch onto the crew member's head and face. Immediately, Garter had a headrush, seeing images in his head, all jumping from one to the next too quickly for him to process! This lasted for only a few seconds before the images stopped and Venom detached from the crew member, leaving him slumped over in an alleyway.

" _Alright, you get anything useful?"_ Garter asked as he rubbed his forehead.

" _Sorry for not warning you about the headrush. It's a side effect. Also yes, I did find something useful. I have a mental image of the structure's interior and how to navigate it, as well as who would know where to find the Travelers. And, as a bonus, I know where we can find this person and take the information we need."_ Venom reported.

" _Alright, then lets get going. Where to?"_ Garter asked.

" _I'll handle the directions. You just get us moving."_ Venom replied. Garter leapt into the air and started sprinting up the side of a building before launching himself off of it and began swinging in the direction provided by Venom. Soon, they reached yet another skyscraper, where the symbiote directed him to a specific window. Garter perched nearby and waited until he saw the person that Venom claimed had the information they needed. Venom caused a few wire-thin tendrils to slip under the window and slowly pull it open, allowing Garter to sneak inside and creep up behind the man. One blow to the head later and Venom was searching through the man's mind until it found what they were looking for.

" _Alright, that's everything, right?"_ Garter asked. Venom couldn't nod, but Garter could feel the affirmation.

" _Indeed. Now we just need to find a way to break in."_ Venom replied. Garter turned and leapt out the window before swinging off into the night. He needed somewhere secluded to come up with a plan.

* * *

Ana groaned as she woke up from the late-night movie binge. They'd stayed up until three in the morning watching a wide assortment of movies. Some of them were good, some were horrid beyond compare, but it had still been fun. She got a call from her parents saying that they were going to be working longer shifts and likely would have to sleep at work that weekend.

Walking over to the sink, Ana filled a glass with water and chugged it before heading to the bathroom to try and wash the sleep off of her face. With all that done, she felt significantly more awake and walked back into the living room to see Mira was look at her holo-glass. She didn't look happy.

"You wouldn't have happened to have gone out to do your Spider Woman thing last night after I fell asleep, would you?" She asked. Ana frowned.

"No… why are you asking?" Ana questioned. Mira motioned for her to come look at the holo-glass. It was an image of someone wearing what looked suspiciously close to one of the costumes Ana had found in the chest in her grandparents' attic. It was hard to tell though, since the picture wasn't perfect. Additionally, the article went on to say that the person in the photo had assaulted two men that night who both had military ties.

"You don't think someone else could have Spider Powers out there, do you?" Mira asked. Ana didn't say anything. Instead, she was fixated on the logo that the person had on their costume. Then it clicked.

"Okay, I could be completely wrong, but that costume looks scarily close to Venom." She muttered. Mira looked up at her in shock.

"Venom? As in, the original symbiote that came to Earth? That Venom?" She asked fearfully. Ana nodded grimly.

"I don't think it's actually him, but it could be someone who got inspired by me and decided to become the new Venom somehow." She guessed. Mira shook her head.

"Kinda hard to buy that, but I don't have a better explanation. So, what do we do?" She asked. Ana frowned and started heading back to her room.

"Well, if this is a Venom wannabe, then it's down to Spider Woman to stop them."

* * *

 **And that's where we'll leave it for now! We've completed the second set!**

 **Creativity: Oh man, it feels good to get this out there.**

 **Author: No kidding.**

 **So, I honestly don't have much to say here. Just glad to be getting this published.**

 **So, like I said before, Discord password in the AN above, I hope to see you there, signing off.**

 **See ya next time!**


	15. Project Announcement

**Hey guys! Sorry this isn't a proper update, but they're coming! As one might have guessed from the title, this is an announcement! An announcement of what, you may ask? Why, we're launching the next primary project!**

 **Creativity: Cue the music! Deploy the confetti!**

 **Author: Not quite. Halfway through writing the thing, I realized I was torn between my traditional style and a different one. Since I couldn't settle on which one, I decided I'd leave it up to the readers! I've written four chapters one style and four in the other. I elaborate more in chapter five, so you'll see what I mean then if you choose to read it.**

 **Creativity: Once all eight chapters are published, we'll probably go dark while we write out the rest of the story, so expect uploads to Limit Breaker and Venom: Resurgence to become more sporadic than usual. We don't want to make the same mistake we made with New Dawn and A Very Bad Idea and turn the stories into work.**

 **Author: Exactly. Well, that's all from us for now! I hope you all feel inclined to give our next project a read!**

 **Creativity: You know, we haven't actually given the title yet.**

 **Author: Oh, yeah… Wow I feel silly.**

 **Well, allow me to rectify that! Our next primary project is titled thus…**

 **BEFORE: KINGDOM HEARTS**

 **Creativity: Wow… The all caps works for that…**


	16. Round one

**Good Monday to you all! So, there's been a bunch of feedback on this story, mostly in the Discord server, and its good to hear you all are enjoying! I'm just hoping that this chapter set will be out in a much more timely manner than the last one.**

 **Creativity: Yeah, not kidding. Five, six months, was it? That was a LOOONG time to go without updating this sucker.**

 **Author: Yeah, I kinda felt a bit bad about that. At first, I thought that it was just a lack of passion for the story, but now that I've come back to it, I'm feeling much more invigorated. Especially since I have all these new ideas on how I want the story to take shape.**

 **So, no new reviews outside of Joeclone, so I'll just answer that, and we'll jump straight into the chapter!**

 **Joeclone: You're right. Things are coming together. As the author though, I'm not really rooting for anyone.**

 **And with that out of the way, let us proudly present chapter 11 of Venom: Resurgence.**

* * *

" _Have you spotted anything yet?"_

Ana resisted the urge to groan in exasperation when Mira asked that same damn question for the umpteenth time. Ever since the news report that morning about someone in a Spider Man costume was attacking military personnel, she'd been patrolling the city non-stop. She'd been out for about five hours now, with Mira having tapped police radio and gotten to work on something she claimed would be useful for tracking down this new player.

" _Hey, Spider Woman, come in. Have you spotted anything?"_ Mira asked again over the communication device that Mira had added to her suit before she left. At the time, she'd been a little excited about the small edition, but now she was starting to dislike it.

"Nothing yet, just like the last twenty times you asked." Ana answered back.

" _Woah, no need to get snippy. Until I can get this algorithm going, we're relying solely on you."_ Mira replied.

"Wait, you're just sitting at my computer and writing an algorithm to somehow track down the mysterious new Spider Man or Venom lookalike that was roaming the city? How exactly is this algorithm supposed to work?" Ana asked. She could hear Mira huffing on the other end.

" _I installed a tracking device on your suit as well when I added the comm device, using one of the blueprints you snagged from your grandparents' place. Something called a Spider Tracer. Now I'm programming the algorithm to monitor all the security cameras we have in the city and cross-reference it with the tracking data, allowing us to isolate and predict the pathway the other Spider person is following."_ Mira explained in a clipped tone.

"Alright, how long until it's working? I'm not having much success just swinging around and hoping to find them." Ana inquired.

" _Well, I already had a bunch of it written out as a separate project from last year, so I just need to adjust a few more lines of code, as well as get the program to recognize a spider person, then we're in business. I'd say it'll only take a few more minutes to hash it out. Of course, this all assumes that this new guy is doing anything during the day. Last night was the first reported sighting of him. You've been operating during both day and night, right? Who's to say the target is the sa… Wait, we just had a potential sighting in the south commercial district, heading west, towards you. Also, that happens to be heading towards that same military installation that the victims were stationed at. You could probably catch him if you get there and lie in wait."_ Mira reported. Ana was immediately all business and began swinging her way towards the tower in question. It was becoming abundantly clear that whoever was behind these attacks was interested in the tower. She couldn't help but wonder why, though. What was in that tower that would be of such interest to a wannabe Spider person?

"Hey Mira, have there been any other sightings of… well, me near that tower? And if so, what's the timestamp? I don't recall ever patrolling in that area." Ana asked her friend.

" _On it, just give me a sec… Okay, sightings… sightings… Ah, here we are! Okay, so there's been multiple unconfirmed sightings there, dating back to a little over a week. Seems whoever our 'wannabe' is, they're pretty interested in that building. Can't exactly see why though. I mean, most of what goes on in there is very hush-hush, but I don't see why anyone would bother going in there except out of sheer curiosity, especially considering all the security. Say, you don't think that this guy was an experiment gone rogue and out for revenge, do you?"_ Mira asked. Ana frowned. That would indicate that the government was trying to replicate the powers of famous heroes.

"Well, I guess that's one possibility. Whatever the case, we'll find out when I catch this guy." Ana promised as she reached the area. She swung her way up to the top of one of the buildings and perched spider-style, waiting for her quarry.

"Do you think they should have arrived by now? Or could they have switched back to their civvies?" Ana asked over comms.

" _I don't think so… Wait, one of the images was a rooftop one! Check the rooftops!"_ Mira exclaimed, causing Ana to wince and make mental note to request that Mira add volume control to the comms device when she got back. Once the brief pain had subsided, she immediately started doing as Mira suggested and started examining the rooftops. Then she spotted it. Someone clad in a black costume with a white spider logo plastered across his back. He was currently stuck to the side of a building, mostly out of sight and their eyes were glued to the building.

"There you are…" She muttered before springing from her perch and swinging towards her quarry. Going into a carefully timed dive, she arced upward and let go, feet extended to slam into the imposter! Unfortunately, they seemed to notice and sprang out of the way and began swinging away down the street. Ana growled in frustration before leaping after him (as she could now see that her target was male) and shot a pair of webs towards him. She was going to bring this poser down if it was the last thing she ever did.

* * *

Garter had no idea his day why his day had become so complicated. It had begun smoothly enough. After catching a few hours of sleep in a back-alley and stealing some food (The stuff here was a far cry from what he usually ate) he had taken to the rooftops to continue scoping out the building and formulating a plan to break in. There'd been some annoying, but helpful back and forth between him and Venom on how to break in, and there had been the makes of a proper plan. And then an interruption dressed in blue arrived.

" _INCOMING!"_

Garter reacted immediately to Venom's warning and leapt from the wall, avoiding a solid kick to his ribs. As he fell, he could see that his attacker was that same person who had given Venom that little… episode, when they first arrived. Thankfully, Venom was too preoccupied with the fact they were under attack to potentially have another episode. If it had one this high up, there'd likely be a real mess made on the ground below. Garter immediately started webbing away as fast as he could looking for some way for him to lose his pursuer.

" _How did they find us?!"_ Venom shouted in his mind.

" _Well, I imagine that black isn't very stealthy during the day. We were careless."_ Garter replied, angry with himself for making that mistake. He was better than that! Even then, it was basic common sense!

" _You can beat yourself up about our collective stupidity later! Now, what do we do?!"_ Venom exclaimed. Garter began scanning his surroundings as best he could, searching for an escape route. However, the feeling of something impacting his shoulder immediately told him this was going to be harder than he thought. He spun around and morphed his hand into a blade and slashed the webline that was currently attached to his shoulder before shooting a web down to adjust his trajectory and avoid the incoming attacker. He quickly webbed his way into an arc and launched himself up onto another nearby building. He was swiftly followed by the Spider-person, who immediately shot two webs at him, which stuck to either of his shoulders. They yanked forward, though Garter held his ground and looped the web around his arms and gripped tight, refusing to budge. The moment he sensed the webs slacken, he yanked back with all his might, pulling his opponent towards him! Unfortunately, they weren't as caught off-guard as he anticipated, and they flipped through the air and had their legs ready to strike. Garter blocked the attack and retaliated with a kick of his own, sending his opponent flying back whence they came. They recovered with a backwards spring and began to pepper him with small web shots, trying to cocoon him. He growled and had his arms transform into blades, freeing himself in a matter of moments. His opponent seemed shocked by this. Garter snarled at them. He was done playing around.

He leapt forward, fist cocked back with the other hand forming conical spikes on his knuckles. If they wanted a fight, they'd get one.

* * *

The fight was not going nearly as well as Ana had hoped. After her initial surprise attack, she chased the Venom lookalike through the skyscrapers until he finally stood his ground against her. And then things really went sideways. Whoever this was, they were strong. Really strong. And that wasn't even factoring in the fact that their HANDS could become blades!

And now her quarry had her on the defensive. The onslaught of punches and kicks were forcing her back step by step, and the knuckle spikes weren't helping. Soon enough, Ana was only a foot away from the edge of the building when she managed to slip past her opponent's guard and dart around them, delivering a roundhouse kick to the back of their head. What happened next was unexpected and horrifying.

The mask was dislodged from the wearer's face… sort of. It turned into goo and was knocked a short distance away before suddenly wrapping itself back around the wearer's face. There was only one thing she could think of that could do this, and it was the very reason humanity lived inside a sonic bubble. She was facing down a hosted symbiote. But one other thing made for more troubling implications. A hosted symbiote that JUST so happened to have the EXACT same patterns and colors as Venom? That couldn't be a coincidence.

" _Ana, any success? You haven't checked back in a while…"_ Mira asked over comms, prompting Ana to grunt in frustration as she snared her opponent with two webs and managed to sling them over her head and slam them down on the roof of the building before firing globs of webbing at him to try and pin him down. That didn't work, since the apparent new Venom threw themselves clear of the webs and responded with their own. She managed to dodge them before rushing in to deliver a few more punches, though she didn't think they were very effective.

"You know how I was calling this guy 'wannabe Venom'? I think he's the genuine article!" She exclaimed over comms before she was kicked in the chest and sent tumbling through the air. She managed to recover with a back spring and braced herself, managing to grab the new Venom by his front and throw him over her head and down towards the street. She immediately leapt after him, as she figured he'd probably start trying to make a run for it again.

" _Wait, are you serious?! You're telling me that Venom has miraculously returned around the same time you got your powers and that he's inside the bubble… SOMEHOW?!"_ Mira shouted over comms, causing Ana to once again make note of the need for volume control on the things.

"That's what I just said, isn't it?!" Ana shouted back as she pursued Venom through the forest of skyscrapers.

" _Holy shit, this is so many times worse than I could have possibly imagined…"_ Mira breathed on the other end. Ana couldn't disagree. Everyone had assumed that Venom had perished along with Spider Man in New York, symbiote and all. How was it still alive after all this time? What hosts were there outside Safe Haven for Venom to survive off of? And if it had been on the outside, how did it get in?!

But then there was the alternative. Had Venom been lingering in Safe Haven for the last two hundred fifty years, moving from host to host? If so, how had it gone undiscovered for so long? Were there other symbiotes hiding among them?

"Well, only one way to find out…" Ana resolved as she noticed Venom was a block or so ahead of her and swinging around a building. She felt an idea coming on, but just hoped that the risk that came with it didn't screw her over. She took a turn a bit early and zipped forward before swinging around a corner and launching herself forward as hard as she could. To her delight, her timing was perfect. The new Venom had just crossed her path, right into her waiting arms! She tackled him straight through a skyscraper window and into an office where the two resumed brawling, much to the shock and horror of the office occupants.

Growling in frustration with the office workers, she managed to force Venom back and get him out of the building by kicking him out the window and leaping out after him, shooting a pair of web lines to his shoulders and dragging herself towards him. The two began to slug it out in freefall before Venom's hands became blades again, which forced her to retreat. However, when he went to swing away again, she was already hot on his heels.

"You aren't getting away from me that easily..." She promised under her breath as she pursued him further. However, he was now beginning to outpace her, and she needed to replace the cartridges on her webshooters. Unless she brought him down soon, he'd be gone.

The solution came in the form of public transportation. They were passing a monorail line and one such machine was currently passing them by. Swinging to land on it, she immediately set about replacing the cartridges. She had a small window before Venom caught on to what she was doing, since the monorail was faster than Venom could swing. Once her HUD was reading that the web cartridges were full, she smirked and shot two web lines at Venom, catching him by the ankles and yanking him towards the monorail! He slammed into the side of the transport before falling down and hitting one of the support beams before Ana whipped the web lines towards her and pulled him onto the monorail.

Venom shook his head a few times, seemingly in dizziness before he made a weird growling noise that caught Ana off guard before his fingers turned into claws. Ana dropped into a crouch with on arm raised behind her; a classic Spider Man pose.

"Ready for round two?"

 **And that's where we'll end it for now! We're going multi-chapter with the big battle!**

 **Creativity: Normally we reserve that for the end. What, are we gonna go triple chapter at the end?**

 **Author: We might go full set, depending on how things shake out.**

 **Creativity: That is exciting… and also a bit scary…**

 **Author: We'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Either way, we're one chapter into the third set! And it didn't even take us a month this time!**

 **Creativity: And isn't that the real victory?**

 **Author: I wouldn't go that far, but I like the sentiment. Not much else to say, today. We'll have more stuff to say once we get further into the set. So, I think I'll end the AN here. See ya tomorrow!**


	17. Round two

**Welcome back! Been a minute since I sat down to start work on this, so let's do a little status update.**

 **Creativity: I don't see why you do that for this story. Since everything's prewritten, it won't mean anything to them.**

 **Author: I sorta disagree, but we can have that conversation later. Anyway, big thing first, the primary project is out! Well, sorta… I was torn between two different structure styles for the story, so I decided to write four chapters of both, publish those and then go on hiatus to hash out the rest of it with feedback. So, if you'd like to throw your opinion out there, head over to the story and give it a read!**

 **Creativity: You know, it would probably be a good idea to share the title of the story. Seriously, you've been slipping on that lately.**

 **Author: Ah, good catch. You're right, I have been slipping on that…**

 **The title for the primary project is Before: Kingdom Hearts.**

 **When I'm updating, I'll be updating on Tuesdays and Saturdays.**

 **Alright, enough with that other stuff, let's get to the reviews from yesterday!**

 **TheCrankyWriter: I didn't pick up on that parallel between Ana/Mira and Garter/Venom thing before. Interesting take, and one I might have to think on a bit for future.**

 **Joeclone: Oh, just you wait until we _really_ get going...**

 **Thanks for the reviews! Like last week, I'll be leaving the Discord password at the end of the chapter on Friday. I hope to see ya in chat!**

 **Now, without further ado, I proudly present chapter 12 of Venom: Resurgence!**

* * *

Garter snarled as he swiped his claws at his enemy, who twisted and spun out of the way before retaliating with a kick. He leapt back and shot a pair of web lines in response, though the interloper managed to avoid them before springing back with their fist cocked back, delivering an uppercut to his jaw. Garter was lifted off his feet and thrown into the air, but he recovered into a backflip and shot two more web lines past his enemy and pulled hard, sending himself hurtling back towards them and nailing them in the stomach with a double kick. They were sent tumbling onto their back, rolling a few times due to the transport's motion. Garter didn't stop. He charged forward, rearing back for another punch. The attacker, a female, judging by the hair and suit, sprang back as his fist flew downward and punched straight through the transport! This left him open to his attacker springing forward and ensnaring him with several webs as she leapt around him, wrapping him in a silk cocoon. Once he was thoroughly webbed, she rushed in and start trying to knock him out with a series of punches and kicks.

As the blows continued, Garter was just getting angrier and angrier. He let out a guttural growl as Venom began to shift around him, causing several small blades and spikes to erupt all over his arms and legs! He tore himself free of the webbing and threw a punch forward. His reach extended as Venom stretched with the punch, sending the interloper flying backwards.

"I am done!" Garter roared, his voice distorted and doubled. He sprinted forward and slammed his shoulder into the attacker, sending them sprawling! He wasn't done though as he kept running, kicking them in the side and sending them hurtling into the air! He then shot two web lines that snagged them on the shoulder and hip. He turned and viciously swung them around and slammed them against the roof of the transport, making a massive dent in it!

Garter stalked forward, his fingers elongating into four-inch-long claws. His foe staggered to her feet and stared at him, the eyes of her mask widening a bit. He could feel fear beginning to emanate from her. His gate slowly increasing as his anger built to a crescendo. His opponent managed to clamor to her feet and raised her fists. Garter swiped a few times with his elongated claws, prompting his opponent to dodge before retaliating with a kick. Garter dodged around it and swiped again, landing a scratch on her arm. The interloper cried out in pain before kicking Garter away. He flew off of the transport, though he managed to recover, in more ways than one. The rage cleared away and he realized he'd just been given a wonderful opportunity to make a run for it.

However, as he went to run he suddenly found several flying transports ahead of him, as well as several people wearing some sort of strange armor with masks, standing on floating platforms.

" _Oh no… This isn't good…"_ Venom muttered. Garter shared the sentiment. There were a few clicking noises from the floating platforms and all hell broke loose.

* * *

 _Several minutes earlier…_

Several men an women, some dressed in suits and others in military wear, stood in a large room. They were watching a massive monitor that was displaying something that looked like a nightmare scenario.

The screen was displaying live feed from a patrol drone of what appeared to be the rumored new Spider Man, which now appeared to be a Spider Woman, doing violent battle with a hosted symbiote across the city. Currently, the two were brawling on the roof of a monorail, with the symbiote appearing to have the advantage.

"This footage isn't being faked at all? We're absolutely certain this is the genuine article?" A General asked, his tone sounding as though he was pleading for it to be a false alarm.

"I doubt anyone could make a fake so convincing that all of the calls of the attack from law enforcement, military and civilian reporting. Not to mention, this is a state-of-the-art surveillance drone that's providing the feed we're using right now." A woman in a suit responded, her voice sounding constricted.

"Well then, what do we do?" A man in a suit asked aloud.

"I think that's obvious! We deploy our military and air force to deal with this and do a full sweep of the city for any other symbiotes in hiding! Oh, and do a detailed investigation into all projects involving captive live subjects!" One of the other military personnel exclaimed. The others were nodding in agreement before the door burst open.

"Hold on that! Hold!" A woman shouted as she hurried into the room. The lab coat that was smartly buttoned up marked her as a scientist, and a high ranking one considering the pins on her lapels. She had brown hair done up in a tight bun, rimless rectangular glasses and brown eyes. Clutched in her hands was a tablet-sized holo-glass.

"And why exactly should we not be killing one of the invading monsters that are the very reason we live in this city?" The first man asked angrily. The scientist tapped a few times on her holo-glass. The feed paused and backtracked before picking out several images of the inky black symbiote from different angles and zooming in so that it was isolated in frame.

"The markings on this particular symbiote are practically one to one with those of the original symbiote." The scientist explained with a confident air. She then brought up several old images of the original Venom. The assembled officials had to agree, the resemblance was too uncanny to be mere coincidence.

"Well, that's all very interesting, but I fail to see why this little piece of information should stop us from killing them both and be done with it. Also, who are you?" One of the officials countered. The scientist looked at the official with exasperation before continuing.

"Well, setting aside the fact that we're getting a chance to study _the_ Venom, I ask you all this: How exactly did Venom get in here? All reports pointed to Venom perishing in New York, though now we have evidence that at least the symbiote survived. So, how did it get past the barrier?" the scientist replied. That got the officials to back down right quick. That was a good point.

"Well then, I suggest we move for the capture of Venom primarily but capture both combatants if possible. The possibility that the new Spider vigilante didn't gain their abilities through symbiote enhancement could prove useful to us." The scientist suggested, though it sounded more like an order.

"Send out capture units. The target resembling Venom takes priority." One of the Generals ordered, though he sounded displeased by it. The scientist nodded.

"Thank you. Now then, I should make sure we are prepared for the new arrivals." The scientist replied before turning to leave.

"I don't believe we ever got your name." One of the officials in a suit called to the scientist's retreating back. She paused for a moment and tapped her forehead in realization.

"My apologies. My name is doctor Emily Markus." She replied before continuing on her way. The officials watched her leave before turning back to the monitor. The capture squads had been sent out and would likely reach the mobile battleground in a few minutes. Then they'd get answers.

* * *

Ana had almost felt some relief when the authorities showed up. Venom would be too distracted by them to see her finding a shadowy corner where she could treat her wounds. Thankfully, she managed to find an alleyway and used her webbing to create a makeshift bandage for her arm. The scratch from Venom hurt a lot more than she thought it reasonably should.

" _Ana, what the hell is going on?!"_ Mira half-shrieked over the comms.

"The authorities arrived and they're targeting Venom." She replied, clenching her teeth as she tightened the bandage.

" _Yeah, I'm tapped into comms and it's not just Venom they're after. There's a city-wide manhunt going on for the both of you! You gotta hide!"_ Mira exclaimed. Ana cursed. She should have seen this coming. With the media portrayal she'd gotten, no doubt there were people chomping at the bit to put her away or worse. And now the military and the police had just been given free license to do just that.

"I gotta get back to the apartment." She grunted as she started making her escape, only to find her escape route blocked. Leering down at her were three soldiers of some kind on heavily weaponized hoverboards. She heard the telltale clicks of safeties being deployed on the weapons integrated into the armor as the boards began to beep, probably indicating that a weapon was about to be deployed.

Ana steeled herself for a fight, only to be unintentionally saved by someone unexpected. Venom came hurtling by, two other soldiers clutched in his now oversized claws, slamming them against a wall and webbing them up for good measure before leaping away!

The soldiers gave chase, firing their weapons at the hosted symbiote, but none of their attacks landed. Instead, Venom leapt from the wall as his arms turned into blades. Ana could only watch in horror as Venom slashed clean through the soldiers, separating them into three parts with a single swing! Ana gagged at the sight, barely managing to not throw up. She instead took the opportunity to make a run for it, seeing as Venom seemed wrapped up at the moment.

She fled across rooftops, avoiding use of her injured arm until she found a rooftop where she could hide and wait for the opportunity to slip back home. However, the horrors she'd just witnessed were fresh in her mind and the more she remembered it all; the flash of the blades, the spray of blood and the sight of organs coming loose from the cuts, it all overwhelmed her. She tore of her mask and vomited in a corner. She coughed and spat, trying to get the taste of bile out of her mouth. However, that opportunity to recover was dashed when she heard someone land on the rooftop nearby. She turned to see the last thing on Earth she wanted to see at the moment. Venom stood before her, and even with the mask she could tell he wasn't happy.

Garter glared at the girl. She had removed her mask, clutching it her hand. She looked to be roughly his age. She looked a lot less worn than he did though, courtesy of her life spent in safety. The claw wounds he'd inflicted could easily be her first scars. She was pale, and he noticed a puddle of sick not too far from where she was standing.

"Do you have any idea what you have just cost me?" Garter growled in a low tone of voice, his fists clenched in restrained fury. She looked at him, seemingly not listening.

"How many… How many did you…" She started asking him, but Garter cut her off.

"Everything I planned out until now required the element of surprise, which you have just stripped me of." Garter continued, rage dripping from every syllable. If Venom hadn't been covering his hands, his nails would probably have cut open his hands by now.

"Now, not only is my rescue attempt completely shot, but I have no way of getting out of this damn cage!" Garter's voice was building to a shout. The girl seemed to take this as a threatening action and threw a clumsy kick that Garter grabbed and shoved back, sending her tumbling backwards.

"You butchered them…" She choked out as she staggered to her feet, dropping the mask. Garter realized she was talking about the soldiers he'd killed.

"It was either that or let them keep chasing me. I couldn't outrun them and taking a chance on letting them escape would have been stupid beyond reason in a cage like this." Garter replied, his tone indicating how impersonal and uncaring he was about the act. The girl looked revolted. She charged forward and threw a few punches, only for Garter to kick her back and web her to a nearby wall. She strained against the webbing but couldn't break free.

"You really are a monster." She spat out, Garter snarled under his mask as Venom retreated from his face. Her eyes widened when she saw someone around her own age underneath the mask.

"People like you don't have the right to judge me. You've been living in safety and comfort inside your city while I've spent my life running, hunting stealing and killing to survive out there. Multiple times a season I have to flee for my life from cannibal tribes and up until very recently, I had to track any and all symbiote movements to ensure I didn't meet the same end as…" Garter stopped himself from going further and took a moment to calm himself down before looking at her.

"What the hell are you even doing in that?" He asked, motioning to the costume. She glared at him.

"I have powers and chose to use them to be a hero." She stated. Garter scoffed.

"Really? And what sort of heroism did you spend your days doing?" He asked.

"I've stopped robberies, muggings and other criminal activities in the city." She replied, sounding a bit proud of that. If Garter wasn't as livid as he was, he might have laughed.

"Well, it's wonderful to hear that that's the extent of what you regularly have to deal with on a day to day basis. Meanwhile, me and my people spend our days running for our lives from cannibals, symbiotes and all other manner of hellspawn that live out there. Don't get the wrong idea, the only thing I liked here was the food. I only broke in here because your people were kidnapping mine and I want to free them. Oh, and you've practically dashed those plans, as I mentioned earlier. Thanks for that." He spat back at her. Her glare grew sharper.

"At least I didn't leave the crooks I stopped as a mess of internal organs and blood." She hissed at him. He looked at her uncaringly.

"I'm still alive for a reason." He replied, contempt dripping from his voice. He turned to leave, but something stopped him. He didn't have to look back to sense the defeat that seemed to permeate the air around her. He could hear the sounds of the soldiers on those flying platforms searching the area below him. They'd likely be gone before long. He'd cut down well over half the force they'd sent after him and the girl. He turned around and walked back to her, his right hand turning to claws. He slashed the webbing holding her in place and promptly left.

* * *

" _You sure about that? She knows what you look like."_ Venom asked him. Garter didn't care.

" _After today, I wouldn't be surprised if she burns that suit."_ He replied as he snuck away to a back alley and had Venom transform into ordinary civilian clothes. From there, he simply slipped into the crowd and vanished.

* * *

 _One hour later…_

Ana snuck into the window of her apartment, causing Mira to jump out of the desk chair and rush over to her, gasping when she saw the bruises and the scratch on Ana's arm.

"Holy shit, are you okay?!" She exclaimed. Ana didn't answer. She instead started wordlessly stripping out of the suit before kicking it under her bed. She got dressed and went to the bathroom to start cleaning up the scratch. Mira just watched, concerned for her friend.

"Hey Ana, hey… come on, talk to me. What happened?" She asked quietly as Ana finished dressing the scratch.

"This was a mistake." Ana bit out as she went back to her room and looked at the mask, which she hadn't kicked under the bed yet. She picked it up and looked at it for a moment before shouting angrily and throwing it at the wall behind her bed. It fell down behind her bed and she sank to the floor, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Ana, talk to me. What happened out there?" Mira asked again, rubbing her friend's back.

"I was way in over my head." Ana replied, her voice shaking a bit.

"Mira, I saw it… In those eyes… when we started fighting on the monorail, he wanted to _kill_ me. He almost did a few times… And then the military showed up and… He carved them to pieces… Pieces, Mira!" She whispered in horror. Mira's face turned pale.

"I managed to get away after he started going after the military, but we both ended up on the same roof and… He's from outside the city. He told me that much… Mira, he's _our_ age… What's it like out there that it could turn someone our age into… that? And here I am in relative safety, hunting down small-time crooks while people are struggling for survival out there… I feel like putting on that costume is disrespecting everyone who wasn't lucky enough to make it inside, and Spider Man for laying down his life for everyone who did." She confessed. Mira looked at Ana.

"So… what do we do?" She asked. Ana scoffed bitterly.

"What do we do? We don't do anything. I'm not putting that damn costume on ever again." She growled. She could see the mask just under her bed.

"Never again…" She swore.

* * *

 **And that's where we're leaving it for today! Man, this one took a bit longer to write than I anticipated, but it ended real strongly I feel!**

 **Creativity: Yeah, I think that might be the strongest chapter we've written for Resurgence yet.**

 **Author: Maybe. Gotta leave that up to the readers.**

 **So yeah, Ana's suffered a real setback and seen some shit, causing her to put away the mask. Meanwhile, Garter's gone and made lunchmeat out of the new incarnation of the Gorgon soldiers and his plans are currently shot. What will happen next?**

 **Creativity: I mean, we both do…**

 **Author: Sometimes I wonder why I bothered with that damn procedure…**

 **Anyway, that's it from us! Hope to see you in the Discord server, have a nice day, see you tomorrow!**


	18. Battle Scars

**Good day, all! I'm glad you could all make it! I apologize that the author isn't here to greet you all, but a he is currently unavailable, so I, Creativity, shall be presenting the opening of the chapter. He should be back for the closing notes.**

 **So, big news, though it might not be of too much relevance to you, we've finished the first eight chapters of Before: KH! That story will be going on hiatus until we have feedback regarding which of two styles that people prefer.**

 **I feel the Author and I did good work on that story so far.**

 **But enough about that! Let's cover the reviews from yesterday!**

 **Joeclone: Thanks! Not much else to say about this review until Friday, so hold me to that.**

 **TheCrankyWriter: Yeah, one of the things I knew what I wanted to switch up with Ana specifically when I decided to bring in other Spider Man and Marvel elements. Again, I'd like to go into more detail, but I'd rather wait until Friday, so hold me to that.**

 **And that's all of the reviews!**

 **Man, I love being able to handle these intros by myself! So what's next typically… Oh yeah, Discor… Wait, not in this story! We save that for Fridays around here! Well then, I believe that leaves nothing left but to lift the curtains!**

 _ **Ahem…**_ **It is without further ado that I proudly present chapter 13 of Venom: Resurgence!**

* * *

"So, let me make sure I understood you."

Several soldiers stood at attention in front of their commanding officer, who looked very displeased.

"We deployed about thirty soldiers, five Humming Birds and a small contingent of Gorgon soldiers to capture one amateur vigilante and the new Venom, and of all of that, we only got three Humming Birds back, ten soldiers and seven dead Gorgon soldiers. Neither target was captured. Does that about summarize what happened out there?" The commanding officer asked.

"Yes, sir." The soldiers the replied. The commanding officer was about to continue when another officer walked in and handed the first one a holo-glass tablet before whispering something in the officer's ear. The officer looked at the tablet and their face turned a bit pale, with the muscles in their face and neck tightening a bit. The soldiers couldn't quite see the images, but they could tell that they were… messy, for lack of a better word. They'd seen what that… _thing…_ had done to the troops and it was going to give them nightmares. Death was something they'd prepared for in their line of work, but the butchery that the target had committed was unlike anything their worst nightmares could conjure up. Until now, at least. Now they had a new standard for worst nightmares.

"Alright, change of plans. Your debrief will be handled by General Targo." The commanding officer announced before leaving the room, immediately replaced by the General in question. The General was a bit on the larger side, with short grey hair and an equally short beard. He eyed them all before beginning the debriefing, quick and to the point.

"Your mission was to capture two targets; the new Spider vigilante and this apparent new Venom. What happened during the mission?" The General asked.

"We caught up to the targets and moved to capture, but the primary target evaded us and cut down most of the capture force, bisecting or trisecting many of them. It also disabled two of the Humming Birds we deployed as part of the capture force by jamming the rotors and/or killing the pilots." One of the soldiers explained. The others gave their endorsement of the story. The General just pinched his brow.

"Were the weapons of any use?" He inquired. Another soldier answered.

"We can't say, sir. It evaded all of our fire; used stealth and mobility to attack our blind spots and cut down our numbers. We were unprepared for a target such as this one. Its patterns didn't line up with the aggression and tunnel-vision we've been trained to anticipate from a symbiote in the open." The soldier answered. The General shook his head.

"Fantastic… Well then, you all are dismissed." The General declared. He immediately strode out of the room and out of sight. The soldiers all left to get out of their gear, then go to a nearby bar and try to erase the day's events from their minds as best they could.

Meanwhile, General Targo was making his way to a meeting regarding the utter debacle that the capture mission had wound up as. A good number of those soldiers had families, and now he had to explain to them how their guts had been used by the enemy of humanity to paint several skyscrapers. Not exactly easy to spin their deaths as heroic when said enemy had escaped. Damn it, he'd made them look like complete idiots! Whoever this new Venom was, he'd made the military force that had honed its soldiers, weapons, armor, vehicles and other assorted gear for the singular purpose of protecting humanity from the bodysnatching tar globs look like complete and utter chumps! Setting aside the horrific loss of life, it was just plain humiliating!

If they hadn't been ordered to make it a capture mission, Targo was all but certain the mission would have gone much better. That damn scientist had gotten it into too many heads that capturing Venom would help further their research of the enemy. They already had plenty of research going with the captive symbiotes, though Targo felt that was a breeding ground for disaster. Setting all that aside, what more could Venom actually offer them? All Venom had on the rest of his brethren was the novelty of being the first discovered and being the most widely remembered nemesis of Spider Man. What did that actually offer them in terms of research value? Best that Targo could tell, nothing. However, he wasn't a scientist, so maybe they knew something he didn't. Or at least had a guess. He'd hear them out again on this one, though he'd make sure they knew what they were gambling this time. Good men had been killed with absolutely nothing to show for it and he was going to make sure the researchers knew it, even showing the horrifying footage to hammer in just what their request to capture rather than kill had yielded.

* * *

 _Two weeks later…_

Garter hated waiting like this, but he knew he had to be careful. He hadn't done any web slinging ever since he'd been revealed to the city two weeks ago, despite how much he missed the freedom and relative convenience of it. In that time, he'd learned a bit more about how the city operated and was found the whole thing needlessly complicated. However, he did stay close to the compound he had been planning on breaking into before his cover had been blown. Once the heat died down a bit he was going to try again, but he needed to be extra cautious. One misstep and he would be in even deeper shit than he was now.

" _There's been no news of that… What, Spider Woman was she called? Anyway, no sightings of her since the fight."_ Venom mentioned as Garter snuck behind a large building that was filled with different varieties of food. Large quantities of it where tossed out behind the place, so Garter had taken to stealing some when no one was paying attention. It was better than breaking down doors to get food, and less likely to end messily.

" _She probably did the smart thing and burned that suit."_ Grey replied in a clipped tone as he found a few items that hadn't been spoiled and found somewhere secluded where he could eat in peace.

" _possibly. On a related note, I can't but wonder if we were a bit… excessive, when we dealt with the military."_ Venom continued. Garter frowned.

" _Where are these second thoughts coming from?"_ Garter questioned. The symbiote was silent for a while before answering.

" _It's not necessarily the killing, but the spectacle we made of it. It could have been just a few stabs, punches and kicks to get the same result."_ Venom answered back. Garter frowned a bit. Maybe the symbiote had a point. He'd been really angry and on an adrenaline high, coupled with his brain being in 'survival mode' pretty heavily once they managed to escape pursuit, so he hadn't really thought about it much.

" _Well, if we were it's still too late to do anything about it now. Now we gotta focus on if we can salvage the plan at all, as well as how the hell we get out of here."_ Garter reminded Venom.

" _You're deflecting."_ Venom responded.

" _If I stopped to think about some of the things I've done to survive, I'd stop wondering why I bothered to survive at all."_ Garter replied as he finished wolfing down his food and dusting a few stray crumbs.

" _True, but circumstances are different. This isn't the wilds and these people aren't hosts for my kind, nor are they those cannibal tribes. They are weaker, softer. They aren't hardened by the world like you are. Not even the soldiers are marred by the outside world, not like you are."_ Venom argued. Garter fell silent. He didn't have a counterargument for that one.

" _Where exactly are you going with this?"_ Garter asked.

" _I'm not sure anymore. I think it's coming from my missing memories. Maybe this conversation was the other way around at some point…"_ Venom replied, melancholy in tone. Garter couldn't help but wonder what was missing from Venom's metaphorical head. Based on what Venom had said, it sounded like it had been more like Garter when it had its full memories.

" _Also, I'm concerned about the boil-over of resentment."_ Venom added, leading Garter to start a bit.

" _Resentment?"_ he asked, a bit heatedly.

" _You may be keeping me out of some corners of your mind, but not all of them. Ever since we got here, I've felt your resentment towards these people, for their relative ease of life. Don't try to deny it. Like I said, it's literally in your head."_ Venom pressed.

" _You've seen my memories. How could I not? I've spent my life in constant fear for said life, surviving off of what I can scavenge, steal or kill, half of which I had to learn by myself. It wasn't like…"_ Garter shot back bitterly but stopped short.

" _Understandable, but it's concerning how easily we were able to cut their military down like that, literally. You and I have a direct mental link by nature of the bond between host and symbiote, and my species experiences emotions in a much more numbed manner unless bonded to another organism. That can lead to an emotional feedback loop if we aren't careful. That's part of what happened during the attack. Our shared frustration and anger during the fight with that Spider Woman kept stoking the other's anger. Add your resentment to this place in general and, well, I think you can remember what happened next."_ Venom lectured. Garter bristled a bit.

" _Your point being?"_ He shot back. He could sense Venom bristling a bit as well.

" _My point now, is that we have to be careful. If we get into another situation like that, I won't be able to hold you back from doing something you could regret because I'll be on the exact same emotional high that you're on."_ Venom explained heatedly. Garter felt angrier, but he couldn't find a retort. So, he sat there and simmered until his anger ebbed away. As much as he hated to admit it (And he really hated it) he had to concede that Venom may have had a point.

Garter wandered out of the alley and slipped into the crowd, disappearing among the masses. He couldn't think about that now. For now, he had to stay hidden and work out his next move.

* * *

The last two weeks had been a bit of a blur for Ana. After putting away her suit in a locked box under her bed, she'd gone on with her life as if she'd never discovered her powers. She went to school, did her homework and hung out with her small group of friends, though that one was happening considerably less. One thing that had changed was that she completely abandoned her research of the age of heroes. It was just a reminder of her failure now. Not just in her battle against Venom, but of her failure to truly appreciate Spider Man's legacy. Venom had trounced her in every way, if she was to take what he said at face value. She didn't really have reason not to.

The one thing he'd been guilty of, prior to her engaging in battle with him, was three assaults on military personnel that all worked at the same installation. If he was telling the truth about why he broke in here, then he was likely searching for information. He'd risked his life to break into a supposedly impenetrable city to rescue a handful of people that it sounded like he didn't even know, and he didn't put any claim to being a hero, or even a good person (Whatever that meant in the world he came from). Meanwhile, there she'd been, congratulating herself for catching muggers and petty thieves and waiting for the world to celebrate along with her.

It was a wound to her pride and identity that the supposed bitter enemy of one of history's most well-known heroes was doing a better job at being a hero than she had, murder aside. She'd failed the moment she'd put on that costume.

Ana's wallowing was put to an end when she heard a knocking at the door. She'd been sitting on the couch and nursing a cup of coffee.

She got up and walked over to the door and answered it. On the other side was Mira, who looked a bit concerned.

"Hey… Can I come in?" She asked hesitantly. Ana nodded wordlessly and stepped out of Mira's way to let her in. After closing and locking the door, Ana went back to the couch and wordlessly picked up the coffee again. Mira sat on the couch beside her, occasionally stealing glances at her. No one was saying anything. Ana didn't bother looking up. She just kept looking at the coffee, the table, or occasionally out the window. Mira took a deep breath.

"Ana, I'm worried about you. Your grades have been slipping, you aren't taking care of yourself like you used to it, you hardly speak when we hang out at school, something is wrong with you." Mira started, only for Ana to cut her off when she roughly put the coffee mug down.

"Something was wrong with me _before._ Now I've had a wakeup call." She muttered bitterly. Mira winced at Ana's tone. She could hear a generous helping of self-loathing in it.

"Ana, just because you had one setback or made one mistake doesn't mean you should spend the rest of your life punishing yourself for it!" Mira exclaimed. Ana rounded on her.

"Me putting on that damn suit was just the beginning of the biggest string of mistakes I'll ever make! If I hadn't gone out there and tried to hunt down Venom myself then those soldiers wouldn't have found us, and they'd still be alive! I was an idiot, so in love with the powers and iconography that I didn't stop and consider for a moment what I was actually doing! And look where it got me; Humiliated over and over by someone who allegedly has lived through some special sort of hell without the safety you and I enjoy and still has a better claim to heroism than I do." Ana murmured. Mira snorted.

"Wow, that doesn't sound self-important, does it?" She scoffed. Ana glared at her.

"What?" She asked.

"Making yourself the impetus for that whole disaster? Honestly, people already knew something was out there and the military was already interested. Whoever this Venom was, he'd have been found eventually and whoever did so would probably have wound up dead all the same." Mira argued. Ana tried to counter, but Mira just kept going.

"And as for hanging up the costume, don't you owe it to the men who died fighting Venom to go out there and catch him?" Mira added. Ana rose to her feet.

"Don't you get it?! This isn't the game we both were treating it as! Putting on that suit again is disrespectful to those men and to Spider Man! I said never again, and I meant it! I WILL NOT PUT ON THAT SUIT AGAIN!" Ana ranted, tears welling up in her eyes. Mira looked a little taken aback by Ana's reaction. Ana stood there a bit longer before she slumped onto the couch and started to quietly sob. Mira went quiet. Clearly what had happened was bothering her a lot more than Mira had initially thought.

She hesitantly scooted closer to Ana and gave her a tentative hug. Ana didn't really respond, though she didn't try to pull away. The two friends sat there for what felt like forever as Ana continued to shed tears. Weeks of misery bottled up by anger and bitterness finally came out.

"I can't do that again, Mira. I can't go out there and get people hurt like that again." She whispered, her voice shaky. Mira didn't have a response. She'd seen a few blurry images of what had happened, but it had been enough to keep her from sleeping at night. She couldn't imagine what witnessing it first hand while fearing for one's life could do to someone.

"This is the survivor's guilt talking. You'll get through this." Mira assured her. Ana wanted to believe it, but she just couldn't. Not right now. She wondered if she ever would even be able to believe it.

* * *

 **Alright, and we're done! This one took longer to write than I anticipated, but the time taken led it in a more interesting direction I feel.**

 **Creativity: Lake country's been good for writing so far.**

 **Author: Yes indeed.**

 **I enjoyed delving more into the aftermath of the fight between Garter and Ana and how they react to the aftermath, with Venom pointing out that Garter was using well above excessive force, while Ana's dealing survivor's guilt and just being way in over her head.**

 **Not much else to talk about here, so I think I'll end it here.**

 **Have a good day and see ya tomorrow!**


	19. The Foreboding Mists

**A wonderful Thursday to you all! Man, it's been a while since I last sat down to work on this.**

 **Creativity: Plus, there was that scare that we almost lost some of the best stuff we've put to paper, but luckily, we still have it!**

 **Author: Oh yeah, that was scary.**

 **So, as of this writing we've published all eight of the initial chapters for Before: Kingdom Hearts and are currently waiting for a bit of feedback regarding which structure style is preferred, so if you feel so inclined, please give it a read and let me know which one you think works best. Probably gonna be a few weeks before we start on that again, so you got time if you're interested.**

 **Creativity: But about THIS story…**

 **Author: Right! Like I said, it's been a while since I sat down to write for this story, so I've got a more than a few ideas of where to go.**

 **Anyway, it's just passed mid July as I'm writing this out so given the current pace, I'd say that we'll probably release the next chapter set for Resurgence some time in mid-August, so look forward to that!**

 **No new reviews, so hopefully Friday will have an uptake on that count.**

 **Now, I believe that's enough of the preamble! Let us now proudly present chapter 14 of Venom: Resurgence!**

* * *

It was the dead of night and it was pouring rain. Funnily enough, the sonic shield caused the raindrops to be shaken apart by the constant oscillations, causing the whole city to be flooded with mist. The reduced visibility was going to be Garter's best shot at breaking into the facility to finally stage a rescue. He and Venom had run through the plan several times already and had memorized the guard movements. They'd been dodging patrols of those soldiers on the flying boards and with all the fog, plus the cover of dark, they knew that they'd likely not see a better opportunity.

Garter (in full costume) snuck across the platform through the fog, avoiding detection like a seasoned professional until he reached the vent access he and Venom had scoped out before and snuck inside.

" _Alright, now we make our way to where the vent reaches where they keep the clothes… Laundry station was it called?"_ Venom recounted in Garter's head.

" _Who cares what it's called? How close are we?"_ Garter grumbled back as he crept through the vents. Luckily, they were spacious enough for minimal elbow room, but they were still pretty tight and somewhere he wanted to spend the least amount of time in as possible.

" _Just a few minutes of crawling away. We're just lucky that we make so little noise, otherwise people might start getting suspicious. Especially with how trigger-happy they are."_ Venom answered. Garter growled under his breath as he continued onward. Eventually he made it to the aforementioned laundry station and slipped out of the vents before Venom changed itself to look like a guard's uniform complete with a badge and ID number for authenticity. From there, Garter made his way through the facility, using the information he'd taken from the minds of personnel who worked in this installation to locate a hidden panel that connected to the security cameras. Venom covertly slipped inside and proceeded to turn the thing into a mess, disabling the cameras in the area. From there, Garter snuck into the security room and disabled the guards by causing them to fall asleep without so much as a fingerprint. He then had Venom turn the internal circuitry into another mess without a hint of forced access to said circuitry and then left to find an elevator that went deep underground. Naturally, a guard wouldn't be allowed down there, but Garter had a solution for that. Now that he'd knocked out surveillance, he made sure that the elevator security (these people were crazy paranoid) he used his enhanced strength to simply pry open the elevator shaft and drop down. The door shut behind him without any sign of damage. He couldn't be too careful.

After sliding down the elevator shaft, he eventually found another vent that he could slip into. Venom shifted back to suit form while in the vents for climbing purposes. As they kept creeping through the vents, Garter saw tons of strange stuff through the small openings. One room was filled with vials of different colored fluids, one had what looked like metal humans, another that had metals shells that people were fitting onto themselves, but there were two rooms adjacent to each other that Garter found very concerning. The first one appeared to be studying symbiotes according to Venom, which in and of itself wasn't too concerning. If the people here wanted to beat them, then studying them for weaknesses to exploit was a no-brainer. It was the adjacent room that was garnering much more concern. According to Venom, they appeared to be attempting to breed or otherwise have symbiotes reproduce. Both host and symbiote were disturbed by this, though for different reasons. Garter couldn't imagine the daft fools attempting to make more symbiotes would end well, regardless of the reasoning. It was a disaster waiting to happen. Venom on the other hand was horrified by what others of his kind were being put through by the scientists. While it held no love for his own kind (due to their own lack of affection for it) what Venom saw churned its metaphorical stomach.

After reigning their emotions in, the two pressed onward until they found what they were looking for: a large chamber with several transparent walls. Inside were several Travelers, all dressed in gray pants and gray long-sleeve shirts with gray shoes.

" _Alright, the security hub for the area should be nearby. We disable that to knock out the cameras, open the doors and then we run like hell."_ Venom recited. In truth, the escape was more sophisticated than that, but it was a good summary. Garter knew that escape without detection was going to be nigh impossible with the number of Travelers still held captive (some dozen and a half by Garter's estimate), so the incredibly risky plan was to reveal himself in full costume, break them out and then cause as much panic and hysteria through the base as he could while guiding them to the exit. From there, he had to get them to the barrier. As he understood it, they'd be able to pass through it just fine. How he intended to escape himself was another issue entirely, but he imagined he'd find a way. He'd made it this far, hadn't he?

After finding the aforementioned security hub, Garter disabled the guard the same way he had the one upstairs and ruined the internal circuitry before making his way back to where the Travelers were being kept. After opening the vent and dropping down, he surveyed the room, doing a quick headcount of how many Travelers were in the room. His final headcount came to seventeen. Oh and all of them were completely terrified of him. They'd all scrambled to their feet and were plastered against the furthest corners of their cells with looks of terror on their faces. After holding one finger to where his lips were under the mask, Garter set about ripping the doors off of the cells before turning around and leaping back into the vents.

" _Alright, now we get ahead and start causing mass panic, herd them to the elevator shaft, somehow get them_ up _the elevator shaft and out of the facility, then we commandeer a large vehicle, run for the border and pray nothing else goes wrong, correct?"_ Venom checked.

" _That about covers it, yes. And we have the memories from the pilot so we should be able to just steal a vehicle, right? Then we run for the hills."_ Garter replied as he snaked his way through the vents until he reached an area that was reasonably far ahead and rather crowded before dropping down from the vents and webbing two soldiers to the wall before breaking into a sprint, leaping from walls to ceiling to floor as fast as he could, knocking guards, officials and scientists aside with enough force to break bones! Immediately there was panic and hysteria, followed immediately by alarms and sirens. Venom found the sound displeasing, but it wasn't incapacitating. Garter continued to tear his way through the hallways until he eventually reached the elevator. Once there, he sealed off the way further in with webbing and waited for the Travelers to arrive. Slowly but surely, they arrived a few at a time. However, he noticed that two of them were missing. They were all terrified of him still, but they didn't run away this time.

Garter marched past them and down the hallway, ignoring how they pressed themselves against the wall as he passed. He rounded a corner to find the two Travelers had grabbed one of the scientists he had knocked down and had him pressed against the wall.

"I saw you there when they were dragged off! Where were they taken?!" One of them shouted.

" _I wonder what that's all about."_ Venom commented. Garter eyed the scientist. By now the other Traveler had noticed him and had dragged his friend away, both of which were cowering before him. If Garter hadn't been keenly aware of how frightening he appeared to Travelers, he'd have rolled his eyes. Instead, he picked up the scientist by the front of his shirt and hoisted him into the air.

" _Let's find out."_ Garter replied to Venom, who immediately had tendrils attach to the scientist's head and face before fishing around for whoever the Travelers had mentioned. It'd have to be pretty fresh in his mind if he knew what they were talking about.

It didn't take long to find what they were looking for and the answers had Garter simultaneously enraged and scared. Apparently, they'd been conducting tests with their artificially bred symbiotes and human hosts. According to the scientist's memories, they'd been collecting Travelers to use as test subjects in their experiments.

Garter was visibly shaking with rage as he let the scientist drop before his hand transformed into a blade. The scientist had a single moment of consciousness more, just enough to see the inky black blade swing towards his neck. Garter stalked down the hallway, armed with new knowledge of where the test subjects that had survived were being kept. Once he reached the area he'd webbed off, he frowned and slashed through it.

" _What a waste…"_ Garter grumbled as he stalked down the corridor until he heard the sound of approaching troops. His hands turned into two-sided scythes before he charged forward and proceeded to carve his way through the troops without pause or mercy. After he finished slaughtering his way to the room where the surviving test subjects were being kept, he tore the door straight out of its metal frame and stalked inside. The cells were spread out, made entirely of some sort of transparent material that Garter's fist couldn't break. He discovered that the hard way. There were five cells total. One contained a girl about his age with weather-beaten skin and dark hair who was half-wrapped in a blue, white and green goo that was spread out and attached to the sides of the cage by several large tendrils. The girl was shuddering and twitching, her face dripped with sweat. It was obvious she was in pain of some kind, likely a consequence of the symbiote, though whether it was deliberate or not was another matter. In another, there was an adult man, standing at least a head taller than Garter and had black hair, cut short. He was also wrapped in black symbiote, though this one had dashes of purple in it. The man was huddled in the middle of his cell, sitting perfectly still. He was also half wrapped, though the symbiote was constantly shifting, moving around on the man's body. The next one appeared to be a boy sitting by himself, scrunched up in a corner. There was no symbiote visible on him, though Venom assured him that it was indeed there. The boy was rather gangly, even by Traveler standards and had sandy blond hair. His skin was pale, probably a combination of an extended amount of time spent underground and shock.

The fourth cell was inhabited by another girl, this one with short red hair. She was wrapped from her toes all the way to the top of her neck in a strange symbiote that was silver in color. She laid in the back of her cell, legs hugged to her chest and was sitting completely still, not so much as a twitch.

The final cell contained another boy that looked to be a few years older than Garter. His hair was brown and reached past his shoulders, matted and tangled. He was slumped against the wall, his fingers constantly scratching against the ground. When he saw Garter, his eyes widened, revealing the icy blue orbs to be completely bloodshot, with many tear stains tracking down his cheeks. Suddenly the boy whirled around and slammed both hands against the transparent walls, eyes looking desperately onto Garter.

"Let us out… It wants out… Get it out of us… Get it out, get it out get IT OUT! LET US OUT!"

The strained voice of the boy built to a scratchy and tortured scream. Garter could see small dark green symbiote tendrils wriggling just under the sleeves of the boy's clothes. Both Venom and Garter were horrified by this.

"What have they done…" Garter breathed.

" _Do we let them out?"_ Venom asked. Garter didn't know. His mind was embroiled in a clash between his instinct to free them and his survival instincts, something that the symbiote was also experiencing itself. Coupled with those two locking into a feedback and Garter almost didn't notice when something very large entered the room behind him. Thankfully, the symbiote managed to pull it together long enough to warn Garter to dodge, which he did so, successfully avoiding being set aflame by a jet of… well, fire. After landing from his dodging leap, Garter quickly identified the attacker; It was a human wearing a very large and bulky suit of armor that featured arm-mounted flamethrowers as well as a pair of strange looking shoulder-mounted cannons. Their function was soon made clear when they launched a concussive blast towards Garter that immediately had Venom writhing in pain!

" _Get it together!"_ Garter shouted in his head as Venom tried to reign itself in. Garter began to leap and flip about the cell block, avoiding jets of flame and sonic blasts as he tried desperately to get close enough to break the damn thing. Unfortunately, the suit also appeared to sport small guns that, while not enough to hurt him, were powerful enough to throw his rhythm off just enough to get hit with a sonic blast or worse.

"Fry, muck ball!" The human inside the suit shouted. If Garter wasn't fighting for his life, he'd have rolled his eyes. Instead, he managed to find an opening and managed to snag one of the flamethrowers with a webline. He immediately leapt over his opponent, dragging the active flamethrower along with him to torch the 'face' of the suit with its own flames. Based on the amount of cursing coming from the suit, it was safe to say that the pilot now had minimal visibility, allowing Garter to leap forward, left hand transforming into a rough scythe blade to start hacking the thing to pieces.

Throughout all of this, all of the test subjects had begun thrashing about in their cells and shrieking both vaguely comparable words and complete gibberish. Garter hissed angrily to himself.

" _They are definitely not helping!"_ He growled in his head before the suit threw him off. It seemed that the pilot had completely lost their temper and was now charging at him like a crazed animal! Garter leapt out of the way, cursing as he realized that the suit had just charged straight _through_ two of the holding cells! Immediately, both of the test subjects, the black/purple one and the dark green one respectively, immediately ran like all hell for freedom. Unfortunately, the dark green one ended up getting hit by a stray jet of fire. Garter could only watch as the poor soul let out tortured screams and thrashed about before the man in the suit regained their bearings and proceeded to finish the job, torching the test subject to death. Garter seized on the momentary distraction and leaped forward, tearing at the top of the suit before he managed to peel it open, dragging the pilot out and running them through with a hand blade. After discarding the body and flicking his hand to get rid of the blood droplets, he turned to look at the remaining test subjects, who were all still going ballistic.

" _So, what do we do with them"_ Garter asked Venom, who had no answer for him. On the one hand, they'd obviously been suffering in and out of those cages, both host and symbiote. On the other hand, there was no way he could reign them all in if they were let out, and that could result in the Travelers he'd freed getting hurt.

And then everything went to hell.

The power in the room suddenly went out and all the cell doors slowly swung open. The crazed test subjects slowly exited the cells, as if they couldn't believe what had happened. Garter stood completely still, hoping that they'd calmed down and wouldn't attack him. However, the moment he saw the crazed looks in their eyes, he knew he was in for another fight. There was a collective crazed shriek before they charged forward, intent on tearing Garter to shreds.

* * *

 **And that's where we're leaving it for today! These last two chapters are going to be very Garter-centric and I think you'll understand why after next chapter.**

 **Creativity: Shit's getting real.**

 **Author: Indeed it is.**

 **Well, I don't really have much to say here. Think we'll sign off here for now.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed and we'll see ya tomorrow!**


	20. Looming Storm

**Sorry to keep you waiting, but here we are!**

 **Creativity: It's been a loooong time coming!**

 **Author: Relatively speaking, yes.**

 **It's been quite a while since we sat down to write for Resurgence, and we've been rolling! We've currently got four more chapters of Before: KH wrapped up and Limit Breaker has reached eighteen chapters and cross the 100K word threshold!**

 **Creativity: Might not mean that much to those who don't follow** _ **all**_ **of our work, but we still like to give little status updates.**

 **But here we are, finally sitting down to write the last chapter of set three. Actually, it's been long enough that I needed to reread the previous four chapters to reappraise myself of just what's been going on in this set. But now I'm all caught up and ready to finish this set off!**

 **Now then, as custom on Friday chapters, here's the Discord password:** **R23A8zG**

 **Creativity: I believe that covers everything, sir… Yep! Nothing left on the docket!**

 **Author: Fantastic! Now then, I now proudly present chapter 15 of Venom: Resurgence!**

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General Targo knew that the various research programs involving symbiotes, collectively referred to as the Sym program, were terrible ideas from initial conception. And here they were years later, and lo and behold, he was right. According to the scattershot reports he'd received, it seemed that this new Venom had managed to sneak their way into the primary research facility within Safe Haven and had worked their way down into the underground section of the facility where they did their more… questionable research. They'd snuck in with a goal. That much was obvious, given how Venom had immediately gone straight for where the captive outsiders were being held and freed them. Afterwards, it seemed intent on leaving the facility with the captives it had freed, only to be stopped when one of them started questioning one of the facility personnel. After that, Venom had made its way to where they kept test-subjects that had been bonded to various symbiotes, both ones captured from the wild and ones that Dr. Markus had… cloned? Bred? It was screwy either way to the General.

Whatever it was, one of the hosted muck balls had managed to escape when the Hellspitter they'd deployed to deal with the situation got way too over-zealous and ended up breaking two of the holding cells! It managed to terminate one of them before it escaped, but the second one had already high-tailed it out of there. Now there were reports of that one on a rampage of its own through the facility. Strangely enough, it didn't seem to be following a route to freedom, instead attacking the main circuit chamber that handled distribution of power to this wing of the facility, then heading in a North-Western direction.

However, his attention wasn't on that particular rampage. No, his attention was fixed on the one versus three battle occurring in the holding cell vault. The power failure had left all the vaults to open, and the additional safety measures to keep the symbiotes sedated to shut down, leaving them free to escape. They had immediately turned on Venom and were now trying to tear their fellow symbiote limb from limb! Targo had ordered several squads to be on standby for when the fighting settled down and they could go in and clean up whatever was left.

Or at least, that was the plan until he got word from one Dr. Emily Markus who had been in another wing of the facility at the time. General Targo groaned as he tapped on the screen to answer the video call.

"What is it, doctor? As I'm sure you are aware, I'm in the middle of an active crisis." He asked with a frustrated tone of voice, with a hint of snideness.

" _And we'll all be in the middle of an even bigger crisis if you don't put all available troops on the escapee that's tearing its way through the facility!"_ Dr. Markus shouted at him, causing him to pause.

"Can you clarify that last statement?" He asked.

" _I projected the pathway that the escapee you've neglected to send proper troops after is taking, and they're heading straight for the SHIELD GENERATOR!"_

She all but screamed the last two words, and an icy hush fell over the room. If the generator were to fall, Safe Haven would immediately be under siege from every symbiote in the vicinity, and they were always close by. Not too close, but close enough that they'd be scaling the walls within minutes of the shield dropping. And with the chaos unfolding beneath the city, it was becoming increasingly likely that the shield was going to drop if they didn't get a handle on this situation ASAP.

"Attention all available units, we have a sym loose in the facility and it is possibly targeting the shield generator! I repeat, sym loose in the facility and heading for the shield generator! Stop it by any means necessary!" He announced over the intercom before wiping his brow with a handkerchief he kept on hand.

"I knew this group of programs could only end badly, but I didn't think it'd go this bad this quickly." Targo muttered to himself as he watched the camera feeds. However, as he kept watching, it was becoming abundantly clear that the way they were caught off guard was going to cost them and cost them big. Looking over it all, he frowned and decided to make a judgement call that was sure to be remembered as a stain on his reputation forever but was something that needed to be done. He opened a direct line to the Council.

There were several agonizing moments of waiting before the call finally got through. The moment it did, Targo didn't waste any time.

"I'm sure you are already appraised of the situation, so I'll cut to the chase. I move for a complete evacuation of the facility, including all of the research materials and personnel possible." Targo immediately stated. There was utter silence for a few long moments before one of the council-members responded.

" _General Targo, do you realize what you are suggesting? Moving all the equipment and research materials out of research facility Alpha to another site will take hours to complete and the process cannot just stop should this be a false alarm."_ The council member reminded him in a slightly admonishing tone, which Targo bristled a bit at.

"Councilman, do you honestly believe I would make this call if I was confident in my men's ability to respond to this colossal security breach? As it is, much our security personnel will not make it in time to stop the rogue sym from reaching the shield generator and, if you recall, the council voted to move all dedicated anti-sym weapons into military installations around the city and that they weren't to be deployed unless a proper invasion was upon us. As it is, all soldiers and law-enforcement units are currently armed with our standard firearms, which are about as effective against syms as throwing pebbles, if you'll recall." Targo replied with a faint hint of condescension and frustration in his voice. It was quite clear that, in his mind at least, the council was at least partially accountable for the mess they were in at the moment.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before another council member finally took action.

" _All in favor of a complete evacuation…"_ The councilman called. It was quite obvious that it was a majority vote. The General took care to not show it, but he was very relieved.

" _The order will be issued. General Targo, you have command of all of Safe Haven's forces, save those involved in the evacuation. Should a full-scale invasion by symbiotes take place, you are to buy time for the evacuation to be completed."_ The councilman declared, though he sounded rather reluctant. Targo nodded and signed off, waiting for the orders to be issued as he checked the camera feed to see what he'd missed during the impromptu meeting.

Turns out he'd missed some pretty big stuff. The rogue symbiote was getting uncomfortably close to the shield generator and the 3 on 1 brawl against Venom had left the confines of the Vault and moved into the hallways. Also, the number had been whittled down to one on one, though it looked to be more by virtue of the missing two having split off and made a break for freedom. The one Venom was currently fighting was black and dark green in color, its hosted form looking rather skeletal in appearance. Its mouth was an empty black void, framed by teeth that varied between black and dark green. Its eyes were chaotic, even by the standards of symbiotes, and it seemed that transferred over to its fighting style. If it could be called a style, that is. As it was, it looked like it was just mindlessly thrashing about, half the time not even looking at its apparent target.

However, even in the red glow of the emergency lights, it was apparent that Venom was worn out from having fought the Hellspitter and then three crazed syms. Oh, and the squads that had been stationed outside had been killed or knocked unconscious. The blood, stab wounds and missing limbs indicated that some were very much dead, though not all of them. Didn't make it any less of a grisly sight, though.

Still, something told him that this mess was just the start. The council had set itself and the entire city up to fail in their overconfidence, and now it was going to bite everyone in the ass.

* * *

Garter grit his teeth as he nimbly leapt and twisted through the hallways of the facility, desperately trying to avoid being gutted like a fish.

" _Say, anything useful you could tell me to beat this guy?!"_ Garter shouted in his head to the symbiote as he ducked under another swung and rushed forward, his hands transforming into spearpoints as he let loose with two vicious stabs. Unfortunately, much like the last time he tried this, the damage didn't seem to stick.

" _I'm still working on that! Some of us are better at regeneration than others!"_ Venom replied hastily as Garter decided to abandon the slashing and stabbing methods in favor of brute force, trying to pummel the attacker into submission.

" _Well we need to wrap this up fast! We still need to get the Travelers out of here, assuming they're still alive, and we have no idea where the other two ran off to, so please work a little faster!"_ Garter yelled back before he delivered a hard right uppercut that lifted the attacker right off its feet and put its head straight through the ceiling. Seeing that it was stuck for the moment, Garter leapt backwards while firing a webline to the walls on either side of the monster before pulling back as far as he could. He could feel the webs straining and hear the wall cracking and groaning. After a moment longer, he unlatched his feet from the floor and sent himself flying forward before flipping to drive his feet straight into the symbiote's ribs! The symbiote was torn free from the ceiling and sent flying backwards, shrieking the whole way. Leaping clear before the symbiote could retaliate, Garter rushed in with a quick two-punch combo before leaping up to deliver a kick with both feet and immediately going into a back spring. Once he was back on two feet, he immediately began webbing up the symbiote before delivering a few more punches to the head for good measure. Thankfully, this appeared to be enough to keep it down, at least for now. After adding a few more layers of webbing to be on the safe side, Garter immediately rushed back to the place where he'd left the Travelers. As shaken and stressed as they looked, they were at least unharmed. They were immediately apprehensive when they saw Garter come around the corner, given the emergency lights' eerie red glow making it harder to make out who it was, but they relaxed a bit once they recognized him. Only a little bit though, considering he was the very thing they'd been raised to fear.

" _Alright, what do we do from here again?"_ Garter asked Venom. Today had been way more exhausting than he believed it had any right to be, but a few more moments of consideration made him decide that his time inside this city had spoiled him a bit, moments of excitement aside.

" _Grab one of the scientists and use them to get the elevator moving. After that, we head out and start making hell again until we can get out."_ Venom answered promptly. Garter immediately reached down and grabbed one of the scientists on the ground, heaving them off the ground and letting Venom guide him to a panel near the elevator. After lifting up the scientist's hand, he pressed it to the panel. There was a droning noise that was immediately followed by a series of beeps. This was immediately followed by another panel opened. Garter then peeled the scientist's eyelid back and holding it up to the panel. After a few more moments of beeping, the elevator door opened. Garter motioned for the Travelers to all pile into the elevator, luckily managing to fit everyone inside, even if it was a bit crowded. After making sure it was heading up to the correct floor, Garter climbed atop the elevator through the access hatch on the ceiling of the elevator.

" _Alright, now we're over with the quiet part. Was that the hard part? Because after all the distractions I've kind of forgotten."_ Garter asked Venom, who went quiet for a few moments.

" _As I recall, this next part is the hard part, but I suppose it's ironically less stressful. No need for subtlety."_ Venom replied. Garter nodded.

" _Yeah. That sounds about right. Then we just need to get on one of those vehicles and we can get out of here."_ Garter huffed. He could feel the elevator slowing down, indicating he needed to get ready for a fight. The moment the elevator came to a stop, Garter crawled into a nearby vent and made his way a distance into the vents before finding an access grate, breaking it open before dropping down and readying himself for a fight. Only, there was a problem.

All of the soldiers, technicians and other staff of the facility were running about in chaos, and Garter had a feeling it wasn't just because of what had happened below ground, nor what he'd done up here to get down there.

As the elevator door opened and the newly freed Travelers streamed out, they witnessed the disorganized scrambling of their former captors and were just as confused by what was happening as Garter. As they watched all of this confusing nonsense unfold however, there was a low, rumbling _boom_ that shook the ground below them. The results were everyone who was running around like spooked insects stumbling about and tripping over themselves, followed by a chilling silence. Then they noticed that Garter was standing in front of them and started running for their damn fool lives.

"This can't be good…" Garter muttered as he quickly began making his way through the facility to the landing pad and began looking around before Venom responded.

" _The barrier is dropping…"_ Venom murmured. Garter's eyes widened.

"Wait, we don't have to worry about the barrier?! Well let's get… Oh… Oh no…" Garter breathed.

A stillness fell over the city as a massive column of smoke began to rise from its center before there was a weak voice on the wind. However, it slowly began to build in crescendo, becoming a screeching battle cry that rolled over the city like a cold, winter's wind. Garter didn't need Venom to tell him what was coming next.

The siege of Safe Haven by the symbiote species had begun.

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 **WELP! SHIT'S HIT THE FAN!**

 **Creativity: Oh MAN, this is not good!**

 **Author: Yeah, that's how we're ending set 3. The beginning of the end for Safe Haven. The primary defense has fallen and now the symbiotes are running like hellhounds towards one of humanity's last refuges against the symbiote hoard. THAT'S how we're ending it here and opening on set 4.**

 **Creativity: Oh, this is gonna be so fun to write…**

 **Author: I know…**

 **Also, quick think to note is that the week this is published is my first week back at college, so time spent writing is going to drop. Consequently, that means less uploads. Just thought I'd let you all know about that.**

 **Alright, I think that covers just about everything! Please review, hope to see you in Discord, have a good day and see you next time!**


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